My Love's Flame
by Ryan Erik
Summary: Set before the events of Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon, this is a story of Saotome Ranma and Hino Rei before they meet their destinies. Ranma is a troubled youth following his father on their unending training journey when he meets Rei, who lives with her grandfather in the Hikawa Shrine on Cherry Hill. Together they learn the meaning of friendship and what it takes to keep it.
1. Chapter 1

Love blooms in the strangest of situations, and Saotome Ranma's life is proof of that. A year before thirteen-year-old Ranma's fated trip to China, his father had to leave him behind for a time. This is the story of his experience in that time, the people he met, the life he saved and his brief experience with love.

* * *

**My Love's Flame**  
A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Part One: Home

Chapter One

With his shoulders slumped and his eyes downcast, the teenager followed his father's lead. His brow was covered with sweat on that hot Tuesday afternoon, having hiked across Tokyo since the break of dawn. His shoulders ached from the weight of the pack slung over his back. His father had been constantly berating him for tugging along so many things, but they were all his earthly possessions, including most of their cooking gear and supplies. A glare upon the lighter pack over his father's shoulders showed his contempt for the man's lack of sensibility. Training was what the old man called it.

"Training my ass," Saotome Ranma muttered under his breath, adjusting the knot on his black belt.

"What was that, boy?" Saotome Genma asked, still leading their way through the Tokyo streets.

A full day of breathing traffic exhaust was really beginning to make Ranma a little nauseous, but he would never admit his weakness or risk a berating in the hands of his father. The boy did not understand why his father persisted in dragging him across all of Japan, when there were plenty of nice places they could train without all of the noise and smog.

"I asked where we were headed, Pops," Ranma replied to his father.

The old man snorted and sped up his pace. When he turned down a busy street, he stopped and waited for Ranma to catch up.

"Now listen up, Ranma," Genma insisted, putting his hands on his son's shoulders.

"Huh? What's here?" Looking around, Ranma only saw a line of boutiques and other shops. Traffic was blocked on either side of the road, allowing pedestrians to freely travel about the many establishments. The majority of the customers consisted of girls still dressed in their school uniforms, carrying bags of clothes and other recently purchased items.

"Shut up and pay attention," he growled, staring at his son seriously. Under his breath, he whispered to Ranma, "It's time for some stealth training, boy!"

Motioning with his arms to the crowd behind him, he grinned at his son. "You know what to do. Here, give me your backpack." Releasing Ranma's shoulders, the old man crossed his arms.

Confused, Ranma began to slip the said pack off his shoulders. As he was removing the strap from his right arm, he suddenly glared at his father. "What do you mean, stealth training? You better not mean stealing!"

Snatching the heavy backpack from Ranma, Genma slapped his free hand to his son's mouth. "Hush, boy, you'll draw attention to us." Wryly staring at his father, Ranma only shook his head and took the hand off his mouth.

"I don't think so, Pops," Ranma said, standing his ground. "What happened to the money you borrowed from your old friend...what's his name?"

Taking a step back, Genma faked a toothy smile and waved his hand. "It was...Asukai-san! Yes, Asukai. My good friend Asukai could not lend as much as I had told you he did, so we need to compensate!" Genma looked around and regained his ground. "You do want to eat tonight, don't you, boy?"

Gritting his teeth, Ranma closed his eyes. "You said it was 'Kitamura-san' two days ago, pop! You didn't borrow money from anyone, did you?"

The look Genma gave his son easily read, 'Who, me?'

"And what did you do with the money, father?" Ranma demanded, stressing his proper vocabulary. "Gamble it away, again?"

"Heh heh," the man nervously laughed. Beginning to hold the pack between himself and his son, Genma shook his head vigorously. "Of course not! We did eat well the past few days, didn't we? I spoil you too much as it is, but I felt you deserved it after all your hard training."

"Whatever," Ranma dismissed, used to the routine, but sick of having to bail the two of them out with such means as his father suggested. "I'm still not going to go and pick some stranger's pockets because of your dirty habits."

Fuming at his son's refusal, Genma narrowed his eyes. "You will get us some money now, or you will regret it, boy!" Putting Ranma between himself and the pedestrians on the busy street, he used his son's backpack as a weapon, shoving him headlong into the people.

Disoriented for a second at the speed of his father's surprise attack, Ranma fell backwards in an attempt to regain his balance. Fortunately, he struck something, enabling him to do just that. Unfortunately, that something was a person.

A girl cried out in surprise as Ranma inadvertently sent her sprawling onto the sidewalk.

Ranma turned to see a teenage girl with long dark hair, spread-eagle on the ground, her bags and their contents scattered over the concrete. Luckily for the girl's sake, the skirt had fallen forward, protecting her modesty. She wore a white school seifuku with beige miniskirt and trim, and a red kerchief tied in a bow over the neckline. Ranma did not recognize her uniform, which was not terribly surprising as he didn't even know which district of Tokyo he was in at the moment. She could not have been any older than him, but he really did not know for certain.

"I'm so sorry," he told her. The expression of surprise faded from the girl's face as Ranma bowed in apology, quickly transforming into anger. When Ranma offered his hand to help her up, she brushed it aside and pushed herself to her feet, taking a moment to fix her ruffled, long raven-black hair.

He knelt and gathered her bags, while the girl calmed down. Luckily the books that had spilled from one of her bags were encased in plastic, and the clothes from the other still appeared clean. He carefully placed the items into the proper bags as neatly as he could, and then offered them to the girl, who quickly snatched them from his hand.

"I really am sorry," Ranma told her again, keeping his head bowed.

"Yeah, I bet," she said, checking her bags. "You really should be more careful."

Ranma looked up and half-smiled in embarrassment, noticing that she was staring at him. Though she still scowled, the tilt of her eyebrows and the pout of her red lips made her more inquisitive than upset. It was then he noticed just how lovely she was. Swaying in the cool breeze, the tips of her pretty, black hair dangled past the hem of her skirt. However, it was her eyes that caught his attention the most, though. She stared back at him perplexed, as if she was trying to solve some math problem that might have been written on his forehead.

"I will be," he assured her, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously. His concentration wandered, and he turned his head, looking over his shoulder in an attempt to locate his father. The old man was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, he turned back to the girl.

"Is something the matter?" she asked, taking a tiny step forward.

"No, nothing," he said, faintly distracted. Trying to remember just where he had agreed to meet his father should they become separated, Ranma hummed in thought.

They stood before each other in a moment of uneasy silence. She stared at the sidewalk, while he struggled to think of something to say. Of course, nothing came to mind.

"Well, I'd better get going, so I'll see ya later," he told her, flashing a smile. He missed her look as he turned, taking off in the other direction. Standing too near her made it really hard for him to think, for some reason.

Doing a quick scan for his father, Ranma scowled. Genma had officially ditched him, having disappeared down one street or another. Ranma figured that if he wandered enough, he would eventually remember their meeting place.

"Wait!"

Ranma turned. The girl had run after him, waving her free hand now that both of her bags were in her other one. He scratched the back of his head nervously. He had no idea what to expect from her. A slap? A kiss? _No, way._ He felt a bit flushed as she caught up. Girls were aliens to him.

"It's rude to bump into someone, and then run away like that." She pushed her long black hair behind her ears with her free hand. He noticed her bright red nails matched her lipstick.

"Sorry?" he half-apologized and half-asked. He bowed his head. "Are there some kind of rules about this stuff?"

"No, of course not," she snapped, her brow furrowed and her tone more annoyed than angry as she had been earlier. "But because of you I missed my bus."

He stared at her blankly. _There are definitely rules I'm missing here,_ he thought. "I see."

"So you have to make it up to me," she told him, matter-of-factly.

"Err, how?"

"Buy me lunch," she said confidently, her violet eyes daring him to say no.

"Wait, it can't be that long till the next bus," he replied, suddenly defensive now that his dwindling supply of yen was at stake.

"It doesn't matter, I'll be late now, and I'll have to do double the amount of chores because of you."

"Oh," the boy said, resigned.

Ranma checked his pockets. Lint, a pocket knife, and two five hundred yen coins were the entirety of their contents. The coins were all he could squirrel away before his pops had took the cash he'd saved for new clothes.

_So much for my savings_, he thought, as he fully felt obligated to make it up to her.

"I'm Hino Rei," she said, introducing herself with a bow. Her long hair escaped her ears like a caged bird, its wings suddenly freed to flutter in the wind.

"Saotome Ranma," he replied, synchronously late, as he had been distracted by the shiny, raven black hair. "I really am sorry 'bout getting you in trouble."

"Good," she said. "Follow me, I know a good place."

Five minutes later, the girl stopped in front of an outdoor cafe. There were high school kids eating there, giving him hope that it was reasonably priced. They sat across from each other at a table in the shade of a large umbrella. Only when she was finally still, her hair back in place behind her ears, did he noticed the color of her pretty violet eyes in the soft light.

"Do you live around here?" she asked him, her indifference thick in her voice, despite the urge to introduce herself and drag him to a cafe.

Ranma shook his head. "Just passin' through."

"Oh," she said, almost sounding disappointed. She kept her pretty violet eyes on him even when a waiter handed her a menu. "Where are you from, then?"

Ranma waved off a menu from the waiter, who rolled his eyes and shrugged. Ranma ignored him and responded to her. He propped his elbows on the table to hold up his chin. "Here and there. Nowhere in particular. Me and pops are on a training journey."

"Not going to eat?" she asked.

"Not hungry," he replied. His stomach growled at that lie, but she didn't seem to hear as she only nodded.

When the waiter returned, she only ordered melon bread and water. The man muttered something about cheap teenagers, in response to which Rei scowled. Ranma hid a grin behind his hands. She was amusing, if a bit dangerous.

"Talking to you is like talking to a wall," she complained.

"Except walls don't knock you over and buy you lunch," he quipped. "I could always go." He began to rise.

"No!" she nearly yelled, suddenly standing and startling him and nearly everyone sitting near them. She looked around, embarrassment stained red across her face. She sat quickly.

_Girls are crazy_, Ranma thought, completely mystified by her sudden outburst.

"Sorry," she apologized, bowing her head. "I didn't mean to yell at you, but you keep trying to leave so suddenly."

The waiter arrived with her bread. From the delicious aroma drifting from it, it was still warm from the oven. Ranma felt a flush of hunger from the smell.

As if aware of his plight, the girl tore loaf in half, giving him the larger side.

"I'm not that hungry," she told him, as if he was doing his duty by taking it.

He took a huge bite, the sweet flavor of the melon bread hitting the spot. He reined in his hunger as after watching her pull dainty pieces from her half, eating them slowly.

"I live with my grandfather up on Cherry Hill," Rei told him after a minute of quiet chewing. "Do you know it?"

Ranma shook his head. "That kinda sounds familiar, but I've only been around a few days. Pops doesn't like staying in one place too long before we pack up and move on."

He finished his bread and before he realized it, he had grabbed her water and taken a drink from it. "Oh, sorry." He offered it back.

She looked surprised, but shook her head. "It's okay." She put her hand out. "You keep it."

He shrugged, and then gulped it down. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until then.

"So what are you training for?" Rei asked.

"To be the best fighter in the world," Ranma told her confidently. "I'm already better than most people older than me. Pops is better, though. He says that one day I'll be the best if I train hard enough. Considering that's pretty much all I do anyway, it's bound to happen."

Her eyes were narrow as she stared at him.

"What? Do I have bread on my face?" Ranma patted his cheeks for food, but felt nothing.

"You're serious?" Her hair broke free again on the left side falling forward across her cheek. She didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, we train in the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, the Anything-Goes Style of Martial Arts. It adapts to all other styles, but it especially powerful in the air. Anytime it's beaten, it adapts."

She said nothing, blinking at him, her eyes widening. "Are you trying to be some kind of manga character?"

"Manga character? No, what are you talking about?"

She pulled out one of her books from her shopping bag. "You know, manga. Like this one." The title read,_ Blood Brothers Vol 2_ and featured two identical-looking pretty boys clenching their hands. They wore red Chinese shirts and baggy black trousers.

"They look like they're going to kiss," Ranma told her, fidgeting in his chair. This lunch had gone on long enough, and he was getting restless. Pops would be pissed if he could see him now, ready to pay a bill at a cafe selling overpriced melon bread.

Rei turned the book around to look at the cover. "Don't be stupid. They're just shaking hands in victory." Her words sounded defensive. "But seriously, the best fighter in the world? Who are you trying to be, _Ryū_?"

"Who?" Ranma was just confused by this whole line of dialog. He paid the bill with one of his two coins when the waiter brought it, obviously not fond of their small purchase enough to give them a hint to leave.

Rei's eyes grew wide again. "Seriously? Street Fighter's Ryū? You've never heard of him?

Ranma remembered seeing that arcade game before, but he had never played it. "No, sorry. Hey look, I really need to get going. My pops is going to kill me if I don't meet up with him soon."

Before she could even respond, he bowed deeply. "Good luck with your gramps, Hino-san."

He was gone a second later, leaving her speechless in his wake.

* * *

In his entire short thirteen-year life so far, Ranma has traveled all across Japan in his training trip with his father, but something is different about Juuban that will change his life forever. He walks across the city to find his designated meeting point with his father, but he has no inclining of the future that lies before him. Will he continue on his merry way, to his eventual ill-begotten trip to China and the cursed grounds of Jusenkyo, or his fate changed?

Please keep reading to discover that answer for yourself.


	2. Chapter 2

Love is a stranger to the miko of the Hikawa Shrine, a girl destined to become the Senshi of Mars, the warrior of fire. This is a story of her experience in that time, the people she met and the boy who taught her how to love.

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Two

As the wandering martial artist, the boy who called himself Saotome Ranma, leapt over the rail around the cafe in one fluid motion, Hino Rei stared in shock. Talking about being a martial artist from a manga was one thing, but moving like one was another. She could hardly protest before he was halfway down the block, nearly blending into the crowded market. The moment she had caught his stare after his second apology for knocking her over in the street, a lump had begun to form in her chest as butterflies buzzed around her stomach. Had she not gathered her wits, she might have sat at the cafe for the rest of the day, let alone been able to ask him to follow her to the restaurant in the first place.

"Hey, wait!" she yelled in hopes to stop him a second time, but whatever obligation he had felt for knocking her over had obviously passed. She sat down again, staring vacantly at the people in the market, wondering if he would return.

After a few more minutes trying to stave off the disappointment, Hino Rei gathered what was left of her dignity, her shopping bags and her senses and left the cafe. It was late afternoon, but she had not lied when she'd said that missing the bus would cost her additional chores. She would be spending the rest of the daylight scrubbing floors because of him.

_What a jerk,_ she thought, as she wandered back to the bus stop. She found the bus stop empty, having just missed another chance to get home in a reasonable amount of time. _Talk about no manners_. _I'm better off without a friend like that._ Her defenses kicked in just in time for her to remember the manga she had purchased at the bookstore earlier.

_Blood Brothers_ _Vol. 2_ turned to _Vol. 4_ by the time her transportation home arrived. She sighed. _Why do martial artists have to be so awesome? _She felt angry at herself for not stopping him, but she had no idea how she would have done that. Her imagination had plenty of fantastic answers for that riddle, however unlikely.

From top to bottom, Saotome Ranma looked like someone right out of a manga, and appeared to be her age, too. _Stop it! You'll never see him again!_ She found an empty seat on the bus. Scrubbing the floorboards suddenly sounded like a good idea, a way to clear her mind before doing her homework.

"What kept you, young lady?" Grandfather Hino demanded, glaring up at his granddaughter, as she strolled into the temple courtyard nearly an hour later. She had made good time once catching the bus, but the market was pretty far into the city.

"Sorry, Grandfather," she said warily, looking around. The entire courtyard looked neater than it had in years. The path to the temple was remarkably clear of leaves and footprints, and from the broom in the diminutive man's hand, he had done it all himself. "You did my chores?"

"You left me no choice, young lady!" he said with feigned anger. The brimming smile on his face gave him away. "I am meeting a cherished old friend soon and you won't have time to clean properly before I bring him and his son here."

"Sorry," Rei apologized again, bowing her head. "I lost track of time. It won't happen again."

Putting his hands on his hips, he scolded her. "If I had a yen for every time you said that..." He trailed off. "Oh, forget about it. Do your homework right away. You can repay me being on your best behavior and welcoming our guests warmly. That means bringing us beer when _I_ say, not him. And keeping an eye on the valuables and artifacts." He then chuckled.

The old man walked up to her. She tried to take a step back, but he grabbed her shoulders. "Rei-chan, what's wrong? Sick?" He got on his tip toes and placed his forehead against hers. "Nope. What's wrong, girl?"

Rei waved her hands. "Nothing. I... I just spent too much this afternoon." _Obscuring the truth is lying, too, _her conscience reminded her. She smiled at him, trying to show him a happy face.

"Child, you look like you're trying to smile with a lemon in your mouth." Her grandfather gave her a pat on the cheek. "Go now, we can talk about it later."

"I swear, it's nothing," she protested on her way towards the temple.

Moments later her grandfather was on his way to meet his friend, and Rei had the entire complex to herself. She put her thumb and index finger in her mouth, producing a loud whistle. A flutter of wings from the trees caught her attention as two shadows dove towards her.

The twin ravens landed on her shoulders, Phobos on her left shortly before his brother Deimos on her right. They both squawked once each before she gave them a pat on the head.

"Hello there, gentlemen," she said with a smile, her thoughts of her misfortune at the market disappearing in seconds. "Would you be interested in the finest of bird foods?"

"Kaaa!" Deimos replied. "Kaa kaa!" Phobos agreed.

"Well then, let's see about finding you some peanuts." No one in the household liked peanuts, except the dark birds that she had met the day she started living at the Temple, after her mother had died. The pair had scared her at first, landing on the window seal of her room anytime she left it open. However, they won her over with their truly unbirdlike behavior and total fearlessness to her presence.

The afternoon began to drift to night slowly, yet suddenly for Rei as she worked through her math homework. The tip of her pencil cleanly snapped off the base and fell onto the page of her math workbook, scattering bits all over. A few choice swear words slipped out of Rei's mouth as she gritted her teeth in frustration.

She rifled through her book bag for her eraser, when the sudden sound of the temple's bell ringing from the other side of the compound startled her. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound. Her Grandfather had closed the gates on his way out, yet someone had barged into the temple anyway. She crept into her closet and located the bokken she had rescued from the trash after it had sat in the lost and found for a week. It was covered in dents and scars, but it would still smack the heck out of a pervert or a high school student on a dare.

Summer had just ended, replaced by the autumn, but its warm breezes had yet to cool. Tonight was especially warm, leaving her in shorts and a baggy blouse, so when a shiver shot up her spine, she looked up in wonder. The courtyard of the shrine lay empty before her as she spied it from the trees on the east side of the compound away from the lights.

"Old man, where are you?" a male voice shouted from the Temple. "Come on out before I beat that ugly bald head of yours."

Her eyes widened in fear. Someone was threatening her grandfather, who had not yet returned.

"I waited for you for hours, but now I've had it. Come out!"

She spotted his shadow around the side of the temple, cast against the dirt. Sneaking towards him, she readied her weapon.

"Don't make me come find you, stupid old man!"

_No one calls my grandfather stupid!_ Rei got within five feet of him, and sucked in a breath. The noise must have caught the intruder's attention, so she closed the distance and swung downwards at his head with all the force she could muster.

"There you—Argh!"

The bokken broke in half against the intruder's skull, the tip flying away into the darkness.

"Got you!" Rei yelled in triumph, looking down at her opponent. Her shadow covered him in darkness, but she could tell he wouldn't be bothering her grandfather anytime soon.

A moan from the person below caught her attention. The voice sounded a bit too high to be a grown man, and he wasn't built very thick. She stepped out of the way of the light, illuminating his face.

Blood matted the hair of her escaped ronin. Saotome Ranma looked like a fresh corpse on the battlefield._ The miko with the bokken in the Courtyard. Where was Colonel Mustard when you need him to take the rap? _

"Oh no!"

As she stared down at him in horror, she heard a creak of the gates, followed by thunderous laughter echoing across the courtyard. Rei could tell her grandfather's laughter from that of anyone else in the world. She felt relieved for only a moment, until she realized she had just killed someone, the boy from the market, with a weapon she had told her grandfather that she had thrown away. She was in so much trouble.

"Haha! Genma, you devil!" Her grandfather's voice rang out from the courtyard.

She half-considered dragging the poor boy into the bushes and hoping for the best, rather than disappoint the old priest. Tossing the bokken into the brush, Rei watched it disappear into the darkness. She turned back to stare at Ranma in a panic, when a low moan from his mouth filled her with instant relief.

"Are you okay?" she asked, rushing to Ranma's side. She knelt beside him, brushing away his wet, black bangs. A welt stuck out directly at the center of his forehead. There was a small cut on his head that she must have inflicted when the bokken snapped.

His eyes flickered open and rolled in their sockets. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on her. She lifted his shoulders and wedged her legs under his head.

"Don't die," she commanded him.

"Says you," he whispered, followed by a moan. "Where am I?"

She might have answered him, explaining how he had burst into her home and yelled threats at her grandfather, but decided she had best let him not die before charging him with anything. She also might have told him where he was, telling him about the Hikawa Shrine, and she planned to do just that, but a loud voice from her grandfather's quarters boomed out instead, causing a chain of events that she would feel for the rest of the night.

"Hino-sensei, you old cad!"

Ranma's eyes suddenly grew sharp, she noticed suddenly as she examined his head.

"Pops?!" his voice called out, startling her. He then sat up rapidly, smacking his injured head into her forehead.

Seeing stars usually meant bumping into Akira Kurosawa and getting his autograph, going to an Aino Minako concert and sitting up front. Instead, she fell back, cradling her head as sparkly stars shone before her closed eyelids. Pain seeped through her head as she shrieked.

Between Ranma's grunt of pain and her shriek, the courtyard filled with echoes of their accident. She grabbed her forehead as she heard the footsteps of the two men, who were rush to their position.

"Ranma? Where are you, my boy?" the stranger who had been making all the racket called out.

"Rei-chan?!" Her grandfather's voice resounded across the courtyard.

Despite being in the exact situation the two adults were witnessing, Rei looked up with a bit of curiosity as to the fury in both of their eyes.

"Ranma, what brute did this to you, son?!" "Rei-chan?! Did the monsters who did this violate you?!"

Rei took stock of the situation. Two downed barely-teens, stacked on each other like corpses, both with head injuries. She decided to play it safe and hold her tongue. _Is it lying if I just lie here?_

Her grandfather's guest grabbed his son and shook him. "Get a hold of yourself, boy! How many were there? Did you beat them back?"

Ranma seemed to come to, holding his head warily. "Pops? Is that you?"

_Was it lying if I just say the number "five" – a late answer to my math homework?_

Her grandfather crouched over her. "My granddaughter looks okay. Your son must have fended off the villains and saved her."

"Oh, my son! So manly! It must have been at least five to cause this much damage, and manage to get away with their lives."

Rei blinked. She did not even have to break her promise to never lie. It seemed simply thinking the answer would be enough. Mind over matter, perhaps? _Let's treat these two to ice cream._

"Let's bring the hero and my granddaughter inside, before they catch a cold."

_Close enough._

Ranma seemed too groggy to remember anything that had happened in the last hour, let alone whether or not he fought to save her, so she just smiled and nodded along with the two drunk old men. After Genma carried Ranma inside, she had sat nearby to play nurse as they began drinking to Ranma's heroics, and her saved "honor" – whatever that meant.

Rei had only said a few words since coming in, staring at the boy with a bag of frozen edamame pressed against his forehead. The pain in hers was still present, and she would probably have a bruise in the morning, but she – and, more important, Ranma – would live. From the drunken tales told between the two adults, she had pieced together that Genma had been friends with her grandfather when they were youths, and Genma had apparently lived not far from the Temple. She also extracted that they were only sticking around for another night before heading south.

She now got a good look at this "Saotome Genma" as he had introduced himself before. He wore a bandana over his obviously balding head, and thick glasses. His enthusiasm for beer and boasting only rivaled her grandfather's, apparently. From the glint in his eye and all of the clues she had gathered, Rei labeled him in her head, _Loser._

However, that man's son didn't share his demeanor. When she'd catch his eyes before he'd awkwardly turn away, she could see genuine good in them. She could feel it at the market, as well. She had good senses when it came to people. However, she was still mad at him for leaving suddenly, and then later bursting into her home, causing her to nearly kill him in response.

"That settles it!" Genma shouted, clinking his bottle against her grandfather's. "We'll stay here while he recovers, and then defend against any more bandit attacks for a while!"

Rei's eyes snapped to the two men. "What?"

"You're a good man, Saotome! My granddaughter will take care of him while he's here! The Temple has been in need of some serious fixing, and I remember you did some carpentry back in the day! We will make this place like new, together!"

"Did I say "we" – I meant, Ranma will do that after he gets better. I have business... yes, business in... Hokkaido. I'll be back when he's done, of course!"

"What?" Ranma moaned. "You ditching me, pops? I'm fine, we can go together!" He tried to stand, but quickly fell back down to his backside.

"Stay still! You'll only hurt yourself," Rei said, putting a hand on his arm. Her face warmed as she realized just how good of shape his taut arm muscles were in. _Okay, maybe the hand will go up to his shoulder. _She adjusted her grip. "Don't try to get up for now."

"No, Ranma. You're needed here. And as you explained to me earlier today, you don't like my business. So when I come back, you better have this place looking like a million yen!"

"Agreed, Saotome! Our children will be best friends, and will make the Hikawa Shrine anew!"

_When did wanting to see someone again mean that I wanted him to live with me?_

Ranma didn't look any happier, though he was also wet from the melting edamame, had a gash on his head, and had no idea what had happened to make him that way.

The two old men stood and went to go scrounge for more alcohol, leaving their kids alone.

"Why me?" Ranma looked her dead in the eyes. "Stupid old man, leaving me with an even older man and a girl."

Rei blushed. "Hey, you get to stop traveling for a while. What's wrong with that?" She was rather partial to the temple as well. It was a lovely place in every season, and it was the only home she had ever really knew.

"Stuck in some temple, doing manual labor for who knows how long? No, that sounds great." He dropped the frozen vegetables and brushed her hand off. "No offense, Hino-san, but that sounds pretty awful to me. I think I'd rather freeze in a snowstorm."

"Give it a few months, and I'll hold your head under the snow this winter," Rei snapped back.

He shrugged and stood. "There weren't any ninjas or brigands, were there? I didn't hear you say anything. It was you who smacked me in the forehead, wasn't it?"

Rei rose quickly and took a step back. "Me?"

Ranma nodded and took a step forward. "Yeah, don't worry, I won't say anything. I'd rather be the unfortunate hero, than suffer through a month of pops yelling at me for letting an uncute miko getting a surprise attack on me. What was that anyway, a crowbar?"

Rei narrowed her eyes. "No comment."

_So much for the adventure manga where the valiant martial artist dazzles me with his skills and his humility. I'm the straight man in a slapstick comedy. _She glared at Ranma. _He must be Larry._

* * *

Until her fated meeting with the Princess of the Moon, the woman that was and will be Sailor Mars, one of the defender of our Solar System from threats alien and terrestrial, Hino Rei is just a thirteen-year-old girl with pragmatic sensibilities and a heart of gold. Fate introduced chaos into her life in the form of Saotome Ranma once before, but that was a chance meeting of two kids bumping into each other in on a crowded sidewalk. The arrival of the boy and his father at her home signals that life will be much more interesting from now on.

Read on to continue to the journey of Hino Rei and the boy crashing into her life.


	3. Chapter 3

Through thick and thin, the one constant in Ranma's life has been his father. Now as Genma proposes to leave him behind, Ranma has to face the possibility that he will have to adjust to life at the temple. As he slowly begins to realize his father's true intentions, he has a choice to make...

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Three

In the moments between waking and sleeping, as the chill of the morning caressed his face, Ranma exhaled softly, only truly aware of the dull ache in his head and the soft warmth permeating his entire body. His eyes felt like lead, so he remained as he was, lying face up on a bed. The thought of actually sleeping indoors confused him, let alone sleeping in anything so luxurious as a bed. He began to recall the last few months, backpacking through the countryside with his pops. They had been traveling to Juuban on some secret business that the old man wouldn't talk about.

Recalling his dream, Ranma had been in a panic, getting the feeling that he had been left behind. The old man was as trustworthy as a pirate, but he wouldn't leave his only son behind. The man had told him he was leaving him in a rundown temple with some old priest and a girl.

"What a dumb dream," he commented, but he wasn't quite sure. Something about the memory of the girl tickled his freshly wakened consciousness.

Popping his eyes open, they met anything other than the sleeping form of his father. Instead, a familiar face entered his blurred sight.

"The miko," he whispered.

She was asleep sitting in a chair next to him, her head bowed over the bed, resting her face not much more than a foot away from his. Her neat, dark eyebrows and long eyelashes suddenly looked very interesting to thirteen-year-old Ranma, but he couldn't have told anyone why. Her perfect, small nose barely stood out in the light reflecting off her delicate, pale skin. The dark black locks of her hair shined in the light of the morning as it had pooled to either side of her head, mostly obscuring the left side of her face. Last but by no means least, her perfect, rose red lips pursed slightly in her sleep, as though she were about to form a word, but couldn't quite remember what she was going to say.

_Did she look this pretty when I met her yesterday?_ Ranma pondered, unable to look away from her. She smelled of soap and something else, something familiar. He breathed her scent in but couldn't place it, no matter how much his brain claimed to recognize the it, but she smelled like something akin to an herb garden.

He then noticed her left hand reaching over him, resting gently against the side of his chest. The long sleeve of her red and white miko uniform was bunched up against her elbow. Her petite hands matched the rest of her, perfect from his point of view, with red fingernail polish that matched her lipstick. He gulped as his heart skipped a beat, suddenly acutely aware of his proximity to a pretty, vulnerable girl his own age.

Inch by inch, he slipped his right arm out from under the white-and-red floral patterned comforter until he freed it. Cold air rushed against his bare arm as he reached down to her hand, and ever so gently slid his fingers underneath hers. He reached underneath her fingers until he had enough leverage to lift it with the minimal amount of force. Just as he had her hand almost off him, her grip stiffened, grabbing hold of his fingers.

Ranma instantly stiffened, closing his eyes to feign sleeping. He held his breath for a moment, trying to calm his heart, which beat like a drum roll in his chest. He waited for ten seconds before opening his eyes, and peeking out at her. She hadn't budged, but her hand tightly held his. The warmth he felt from the bed crept to up to his cheeks as he looked across his chest to his hand held fast by the miko.

"Crud," he whispered. He tried to free his hand, but the force needed would wake her. He didn't want her to think he was holding her hand on purpose.

_Think, Ranma. Think! _He stared down at their clasped hands and got an idea.

It took almost a solid minute, but he managed to slip his other arm out from the blanket without disturbing her. _Here goes nothing._

Even more gently than he had touched her hand to move it before, he took a lock of her hair. Its softness was strange to his rough hands. Unlike his coarse hair, which might have seen actual shampoo once this week, it felt like velvet between his fingers. After the wasted moment, he continued his plan, gently bringing the ends of her hair to her nose.

She gave no response at first, until he tickled her a bit more aggressively with her own hair. Twice her brows furrowed and she squished her face, causing him to drop her hair and play dead, but neither time did her tight grip on his hand break for her to scratch her face. Ranma did not quit, and used a bit more of her hair this time. She breathed in sharply, but her hold was still firm.

He opened his eyes to see her eyes open, if a bit glazed, and her face scrunched up. She looked like she was about to...

"ACHOO!" Rei sprayed Ranma's face with the mist of an unrestrained sneeze.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, using his free hand to cover his face.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, now awake. He felt her hand suddenly release his. "What?" she sounded at a loss. "I must have dozed off after changing your bandage."

Ranma didn't respond as he used the blanket to wipe his face. _I wish I could have taken a picture of her face at that moment. She'd be at my mercy for long as I'm here._ He grinned at the thought.

"Well, I'm glad you're awake anyway," she told him. "Grandfather says you should rest today, just in case, but later tonight you can get up."

_Right, the old priest is her gramps, so that means... _Ranma's thoughts cut off as he suddenly remembered that his father had told him he was leaving during his drunken tirade the night before.

"Is... is my pops still here?"

Rei blinked, looking at him seriously. "Yes, he is still here, sleeping off the booze from last night in a guest room."

Nodding, Ranma took the time to look at his surroundings. Two bookcases, a desk, a dresser and a small easel filled the traditional-styled room. He noticed the small pile of manga that she had showed him before on the desk and knew without a doubt that this was her room. Considering that, he had slept in her bed last night. His face felt warm again.

"Oh no, are you running a fever? You look all flushed." She placed the back of her hand against his forehead, not helping him one bit. "Let me go get another cold compress." She turned her back to leave.

"No, I'm okay," he assured her, grabbing her sleeve. "Don't leave just yet, okay?"

The miko stopped and stood in front of him. "Sure, what is it?"

Despite their argument last night, she seemed amicable enough. He was rather surprised, as his experience with girls, albeit immeasurably tiny, was that they never let things go. Aside from an old woman that used to watch when he was in primary school, he could count the number of interactions he had with women on his fingers, and maybe one toe.

"Where's my old man sleeping?" Ranma said, sitting up. The covers fell to his waist. He stretched his arms and legs. Everything felt normal.

Rei frowned at him with her hands on her hips. "Why? It's not like you're allowed to get up yet. You could fall and hurt yourself again."

Ignoring her, he threw off the bed covers and slipped off the bed to his feet. He wobbled at first and felt Rei grab his arm.

"Hey! What did I just say?!" she scolded, her grip tight around his arm. "Are you intentionally trying to hurt yourself again?"

"No worries, miko-chan," he said coyly, regaining his balance. "Your crowbar strike wasn't the worst I've ever had. I'll be fine."

"Miko-chan? Crowbar strike?" The pitch of her voice rose with anger. "Are you trying to annoy me? It was a bokken. And you probably should get dressed before you go walking around in your underwear."

Ranma shrugged off her concern for his health and modesty, but couldn't get her off his arm. He had on boxers and an undershirt. "If I get dressed, will you let go of me?"

The miko's face turned red, with either anger or embarrassment, or some combination of the two, but she did let him go. "Alright, but it's not my fault if you die. I'll bring your uniform. I washed it this morning. Since you're so determined to hurt yourself more, why don't you go wash up in the bathroom so you won't smell anymore? It's at the end of the hall to the right."

"I only got a bit scratched because you surprised me," he snapped back, frowning as she departed. After she was out of earshot, he whispered, "Stupid uncute miko."

The fact that she had sneaked up behind him and managed to strike him was really starting to hurt his ego. Last night, the throb of his forehead kept him from thinking about it in detail, but now he knew he was going to have to train ten times harder to live this down.

He found the bathroom where she said it would be. It was sparklingly immaculate. Every surface, from the floor to the counters, shower and the furo, looked factory perfect. The bathroom looked like something out of a model home. He had crashed many a night in fake homes with his father.

"Uncute and a clean freak," he whispered as he examined the bandage on his head in the mirror. He gingerly lifted the side of it up to look at the nasty bruise on his head. She had smacked him cleanly like a regular Kendo practitioner. He would have been impressed if she didn't scare him a bit. Ranma replaced the bandage, and then he splashed cold water against his face.

_So glad I'm a boy, _he mused to himself._ Don't think I could handle this level of crazy all the time._

He stripped out of his undershirt, dropping it to the floor beneath him. _Yep, still got it. _He admired his physique in the mirror.

The sound of a metal hanger falling to the ground alerted him that he wasn't alone. He turned to see the miko scrambling to pick up his uniform, which looked cleaner than he had seen it since he got it last year. She averted her eyes with her hand as she closed the bathroom door halfway and hung his pants and gi on a hook on the back of it.

"Please take a shower, too," she told him with her back to him. "I am preparing brunch in the dining hall. Please come out when you feel ready." She then closed the door.

_Breakfast? _Ranma marveled at the thought._ Okay, maybe she's not all bad._

Later, after he had showered and dressed, he located the dining room using his nose. The smell of freshly cooked food wafting down the hall was easy enough to follow. He entered a small rectangular room with a table in the center. Cushions were spaced around the table, where his father, the priest and Rei were sitting.

"Here comes the hero," his pops said, only half-serious as he pinched his brow. The old man was still suffering from his self-inflicted head pain. Ranma could hardly feel pity.

"Glad to see you're well enough to move around today," the diminutive old man told him, holding up a glass to him. "My granddaughter is an excellent cook. Please join us."

Rei did not make eye contact with him as he sat besides his father.

"Itadaki-masu," Ranma said a scant moment before diving into the food. He and his father chopstick-dueled through most of the meal, much to the chagrin of their host. While the priest looked unflappable, Rei's face went through various phases of horror and shock.

"So, pops," the boy began after finishing the meal. "When we heading out?"

"What's this _we_ talk?" Genma said with a guffaw. "You're staying here for a while, boy. Hino-sensei will be looking after you while I take care of some business. You understand, right, Ranma?"

"Understand what? What business is there that is getting in the way of my training?" Ranma realized he was standing now, his hands planted on his hips.

"Look, son," Genma said, meeting his stare, face to face. "I've been neglecting a few things that I have to do alone. And you need to go back to school for a while, so I don't get in trouble. It just makes sense that you stay here while we both do our due diligence."

Anger was all Ranma could feel as he faced off against his father. "School? Seriously?! That's the best you can do?"

"Junior high is mandatory, son," Genma told him, as if he were some authority on the law.

"He's right, Ranma-kun," the old priest told him. "I'd be happy to have you here so you can finish the school year. Your father will come back for you once he's dealt with..." The old man stopped whatever it was that he was about to stay. The fact that he knew about this business and Ranma did not seriously irked the boy.

"Fine, I'll stay here and eat if you beat me in a duel," Ranma challenged. "If I beat you, we go back on the road together. I can handle any business of yours."

Genma growled at him. "Is that so? You want me to fight with this hangover?"

"I have bokken-induced hangover, and you don't see that slowing me down."

"Are you two seriously about to duel?" Rei's voice caught Ranma off-guard, as he had been focused on his father. He looked back at the girl, who before then hadn't seemed to care a lick about his situation.

"It looks like we have no choice," Genma told the girl, his face suddenly full of the same determination that Ranma felt.

"_Awesome_!" Rei had the same expression on her face as his father did when he was about to bet on a boxing match.

"I will officiate the duel," Grandfather Hino told them. "We will have it at noon."

* * *

If Ranma wins the duel, he will be able to leave with his father and likely never see the Hikawa Shrine again. If he loses, he will be stuck attending school there for the remainder of the semester. Never before has the thirteen-year-old defeated his father in a straight match, as the old man seems to have more tricks up his sleeves than aces and lockpicks. With all of that on the line, and control over his own fate the spoils of victory, Ranma must fight.

Read on to find out Ranma's fate.

Until then.


	4. Chapter 4

As Ranma fights to control his own future, and even though she believes in him, his win means her loss. Rei can only watch. What will she do if the boy who had once been ink in the page of her mind becomes a real person in her lonely life?

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Four

_The purity of their violence is the art of the human body_. Rei could not describe what she saw in any terms less inspired by her awe for Saotome Ranma and his father, Genma. Two minutes ago, they had stood face to face, traded insults that rang familiar to each other, and started fighting with little fanfare. Rei had practiced Kendo at school, had taken several self-defense classes for girls, and had done her fair share of sparring with the other students in her class, but nothing could have prepared her for the spectacle before her.

Genma moved like a force of destruction. He blocked or deflected every blow, and for every one he traded two. He probably had seventy pounds on Ranma, and he knew how to use every ounce of it to defeat his son. Pushing through the boy's blocks, Genma made every strike count, knocking him back or scoring a partial hit. She would not have believed him capable of so much motion from his stature and his apparent disregard for his son's health. Whatever her perception had been, it was changed now.

For Ranma, too, she held new regard. Despite being outmatched by his father, he was much quicker on his feet, and as graceful as a dancer. He moved faster than she could really follow, hopping, ducking, twisting and spinning with every move to deflect the superior power of Saotome Genma. His strikes were superbly quick, striking at his opponent's defenses as if testing every side and corner. She could see him maneuvering his father towards the wall, even as Genma seemed to have the advantage.

Rei pushed up from her seat on the base of the temple stairs, and then leaped forward to follow the battle, running across the courtyard to where Genma was pressing an attack against his son. Slowing her pace, she moved in close to the fight, just in time to see Ranma backing into the corner of the courtyard wall, where her father had swept a giant pile of leaves the day before.

Ranma, now cornered, had run out of room to dodge.

"Give up, boy!" Genma said, his stance wide to prevent the boy from slipping through.

"Not unless you take me with you!" Ranma cried back. However, he did not try to escape.

"Alright, boy," the older man said. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance."

Genma moved in with a quick lunge of his fist, his arm cracking like a gunshot. To Rei's utter surprise, Ranma did not dodge. He moved into the attack. The strike smashed his shoulder, even as Ranma twisted, deflecting the follow up strike from Genma's off-hand, and grabbing a hold of his outstretched right hand. With one quick move, Genma flew over Ranma's hip and landed in the pile of leaves.

"Whoa!" Rei exclaimed as the man landed hard on the ground.

Ranma kept his guard. "I'm good for whatever business you think I can't handle."

She heard a moan from the ground where Genma was submerged in the leaves.

"Yield, pops," Ranma told him. "You're off..." Before he could finish his statement, he suddenly staggered back a step, grabbing the spot where she had applied the head bandage.

The boy's father wasted nothing, propelling himself forward, still on the ground, spinning around like he was break dancing, only to sweep Ranma's legs out from under him. Rei's breath caught in her throat as Ranma fell over, his arms barely falling back to redirect the force of his fall. His legs went up as if out of pure instinct, because he didn't continue his backwards somersault. Instead, he fell flat on his stomach. She heard a smack as his arms and face slapped the ground.

"Ranma!" she yelled, running to him as fast as she could. She slid down to her knees into the dirt, protected by her thick, red hakama. She turned him over gently and looked at his face, now pink as though he had been slapped rather than smashing his face into the ground.

His eyes were closed, but his hand shot to the bandage on his head.

"Are you okay?" the miko asked, her heart beating as if it were hopelessly trying to match the speed of a hummingbird's wings.

"Yeah," he whispered, opening one eye to look up at her. "Just got dizzy, is all."

"Nice try, boy," Genma said, dusting off his dirty uniform. "You have to learn to follow through, or you live with the consequences of failing. That's your lesson for the day. I'm going to go rest off this meal with a little shut-eye, then I'm going to leave."

"I'm - not done - yet," Ranma said as he gasped, and begun to try to sit up.

Rei put both of her hands in the way of his chest, and gently pushed him back down to the ground. "Yes, you are."

"The girl is looking out for you, son," the boy's father told him as he walked past. "She's a sharp one. Get used to following her orders. You're going to be here a while."

Ranma's free hand clenched as he gave up, closing his open eye. He looked like he felt shame in his defeat.

"You were awesome, Ranma," she told him, her hand lingering on his chest, keeping enough pressure there to keep him from sitting up. Her other hand moved toward the bandage. She checked the cut to make sure it hadn't started bleeding again. The cut from last night had stopped, but if it re-opened, it might require stitches.

"Don't," he said, and she pulled her hands back. His eyes opened. "I meant, don't pity me. I don't need you to tell me that, when I just got my ass kicked."

"I'm serious," she said, resealing the bandage on his head. "I've never seen anything like that in my life. You would have beat him if I hadn't..."

Ranma sat up, pushing up right next to her. Her struggling heart skipped a beat, and she exhaled unevenly. He seemed oblivious to her unease as he looked off behind her at the temple. She looked into his eyes and saw the disappointment in them strangling everything else, as if his defeat here, despite knowing that it had been the likely result, was something he could not fully accept.

"Ranma-san," she whispered, unable to look away. "I'm sorry, about..."

"If you think it's your fault I lost, then take responsibility," he said dramatically. He half-smiled despite himself. "Don't get me wrong. I don't blame anyone besides yours truly, but I'm stuck here now, and pops wouldn't have had such an easy time dumping me here, if not for that little love tap you gave me last night."

She looked at him then, really looked, staring deep into his eyes. Knowledge beyond his years and the pain of acquiring it marked him, visible beneath the depths of his pale blue irises. They were so close that she could see the flecks of white and gold hidden in the shades of blue all around his pupil. He stared off to the side, nervously glancing at her on occasion. Her eyes lingered on his for what seemed like forever, exploring the minute details of his beautiful eyes, up until the moment she became conscious of her hand's new position.

When he'd sat up, she had unconsciously adjusted it to rest on top of his right thigh. Her heart had already been beating quickly with their close proximity, but the realization that she had been groping his leg for almost a minute sent a hot wave of embarrassment through her that she assumed made her face look like an apple.

Rei removed her hand from him as quickly as she could, and then looked away bashfully. Released from her grasp, Ranma stood, giving her a moment to collect her wits.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Didn't mean to call it a love tap. It was more like a love slap." He grinned, unaware of the predicament she had unintentionally created for herself.

"Love slap, huh?" she replied, smiling back, letting the ease of his conversation calm her. She could barely hear her own words over the beating in her chest. "How about a love chop to go with it?"

"I feel so loved," he joked as she uselessly chopped the side of his leg with the side of her hand. The sad part was that she actually had put some force into it.

"Help me up," she told him. She held her hand up. It would save her a few minutes of scrubbing the dirt out of her hakama.

He shook his head. "But then I wouldn't get to see a miko roll over in the dirt to get up. And I've got nothing better to do now."

Rei rolled her eyes, looking over at the house. _Time to appeal to his true brain._ "I guess I will spend so much time cleaning now, that I won't be able to make seconds, and by the time I'm done, dinner will be hours late. But I suppose rice is good enough for you, right?"

"Dang, got me," Ranma whispered. He then clasped her hand with his, and lifted her easily, even before she could put her legs behind it. She almost slipped when he set her down. "Whoa, easy there."

She stuck her tongue out at him in response. His only response was several blinks and then a return gesture. She stopped a moment later. He smiled back.

"You know I'm going to get you back, right?" he asked her after he returned his tongue to his mouth.

"For smacking you last night? I said I was sorry." Rei's reply was quick. Despite feeling guilty about nearly braining him, she didn't like getting her nose rubbed in it.

"No, that was fair. I deserved it for letting you sneak up on me." He pointed at her hakama afterward.

She looked down, noticing it was covered in soot. As she shook it out with one hand, she pointed at his previously clean gi, which was entirely covered in dirt, withleaves and dark bruises on his arms as well.

"You caught me by surprise again this morning in the bathroom," he told her, as if recanting private shame. "I'll get you for that, too."

She blinked in confusion. "What does that matter? Do you want me to apologize for your bad hearing and eyesight?"

He shook his head. "I'm just giving you fair warning. Be prepared for me to be behind you at all times."

"You're so weird." Rei bent over to brush off her hakama as best she could.

"Seconds? Seconds?" he asked, as if he was a retarded parrot, only repeating the word a minute later. He ducked down to catch her eye. "Need help?"

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "With brushing my pants? I think I got it covered, thanks." She shook her head, and nearly blushed at the thought of the boy running his hands up and down her legs, cleaning off her hakama.

"I could've got a broom to sweep 'em," he told her with a shrug, before he began wandering back towards the living quarters behind the temple proper.

The rest of the early afternoon was filled with quiet, food and hakama cleaning. Father and son had obviously made up enough to eat peacefully, if quietly, while Rei provided them with a second helping of brunch.

When noon arrived and guests starting appearingat the temple to pray and make offerings, Rei felt rejuvenated. She needed it after making up for not cleaning yesterday with double chores, taking care of Ranma, feeding two more people than normal, and washing her hakama again.

Her grandfather had forced Ranma to lie down again, so she was alone at the temple, selling charms and fortunes. A few hours later, she was surprised to see Genma approach her. He was looking about, talking to himself.

"Saotome-san?" Rei asked him, waving at him. "Are you looking for something? Maybe I can help you."

"Do you keep cats here at all?" he asked, the question coming straight out of leftfield.

_Why on earth is he looking for cats? _she wondered as he shook her head.

"Not even a cat bowl for a stray or two? Or an unwelcome cat hiding under the floorboards somewhere?"

"No, why do you ask?" she wondered aloud. "Some kind of training?"

Genma suddenly looked at her with surprise. "Training, what kind of training could cats possibly be for?" He laughed out loud, but the mirth didn't reach his eyes.

"Catching strays might be some kind of agility training thing," she hypothesized. "Or throwing pebbles at them for accuracy training."

He guffawed and put his hands on his hips. "No, girl, nothing like that." The bandana-wearing man looked around him as if to make sure no one else was around. "I'm going to tell you a secret, but you can't tell anyone."

Nodding, she whispered, "Of course, I promise."

He looked her dead in the eyes with a serious look in his eyes.

"Ranma is deathly allergic to cats," he whispered. "Make sure none take up residence here while he stays here, okay? Even a few seconds near one could be enough to make him stop breathing."

Rei blinked. _How the heck did he survive this long? There are cats everywhere in Juuban!_

"Understand me, girl?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes, sir," she told him.

"Okay, now go back to your temple duties. There are people waiting to buy charms over there."

That evening, Rei's grandfather made dinner for everyone, followed by Genma stating that he had to go.

"So late, Genma-kun?" the old man asked, clasping his hand. "Surely, you could stay another night, and leave in the morning?"

"Sorry, Hino-sempai," he replied, bowing to the priest. "I would, but I think it best I leave before I get too comfortable. It will only make the road that much harder to bear."

They traded a few more words, before he turned to Ranma.

"Alright, son," he started, patting the boy on the back with each point. "Don't let slack on your training while you're here. Go to school every day, and don't do anything that will shame your hosts. Make sure you do anything they ask while you're under their roof. Got it, boy?"

Ranma had kept silent through the whole speech, and didn't respond to his father. Instead, he turned his back to the bald man.

"Don't be like that, Ranma," he told the boy. "I won, so I get to do my business alone. I'll be back in a few weeks. Oh and..." He pulled the boy in close and whispered in his ear. After a moment, he let the kid go. "Got it? Can't afford to have you mess this up." Genma turned to Rei after. "Oh, and girl, remember what I said."

_Cat allergy, right..._

As Genma walked out of the building, Rei turned to Ranma, whose cheeks were flushed. He clenched his fists at his waist, staring out at his father's departing form. A few minutes later, after Genma had left the property, Ranma walked over the threshold of the sliding door, hopping onto the ground.

"What did he tell you?" Rei asked of the boy.

"Nothing good," he replied, kicking a stone across the yard towards the temple. "You'd think I'd get used to him disappointing me, right?"

Rei grabbed her jacket from the coat rack, slipped into a pair of sneakers, and then followed him outside. They didn't exchange words, but she wanted him to know he wasn't alone.

The silence gave Rei time to sort through her feelings. This boy, whom she only met yesterday in an odd bit of chance, had come into her life, but it didn't feel real yet. She felt like she could still wake up tomorrow to find that he'd he run off after his father and she'd never see him again. _Why does that bother me?_

She followed him onto the main temple grounds, where he walked through the trees with the low branches that the locals had used to hang their wishes.

"I'm not going to steal anything," he told her.

"Huh?" She stopped following him for a moment. "Why do you say that?"

"Why else would you be following me?" he replied, stopping in front of a tree. Gently reaching up, he grabbed one of the pieces of parchment in the tree, reading it. "This person wants a puppy."

"I thought you might like some company," she said honestly, staring at her sneakers. "I could leave if you want to be alone."

"Nah." He grabbed another wish swaying in the wind. "This one wants a girlfriend. I don't get why people think their wishes will be granted by just writing it on a piece of paper and hanging it in a tree."

Rei stared towards the gates of the temple, a gust of breeze catching her hair. "These are their hopes and dreams. You can tell a lot about a person from what they write in a tree."

"Oh yeah? You some kind of fortune teller?" Ranma said. She saw him turn and begin walking over to her in the corner of her eye.

"Some kind of," she said, closing her eyes. "Grandfather says I am gifted, but it's just observation. I can tell you worry about things outside of your control. You have never really owned much, and you don't call any place home. You've probably been on your trip since before you remember. You don't even remember your mother."

Ranma eyes were wide. "How could you possibly know any of that?"

"Ranma-san, really? I've known you for far longer than I have anyone I usually give readings to, except for my regulars. You bite your nails, and you're young. You don't trust your father, really, and you haven't spoken of your mother. You don't have any of her things, and you don't think of anyone outside of here but your father."

"Wait, you read minds, too?" He looked interested, rather than sarcastic, so she didn't mind his stupid question.

"Nail biting is obvious, youth means nothing is in your control, your father _isn't_ trustworthy, and I just guessed that last part."

"What else?" He had hardly blinked, staring her directly in the eyes.

"You're not ashamed that you don't have a home," Rei said, staring at him without backing down. "You had one once, but it was before your memories began, maybe two or three years of age. You're proud of your skill as a martial artist, and you think you're better than most others, but you don't really know for sure, because you're father doesn't ever enroll you in any schools. You get in fights sometimes, but other people start it. You don't really pay attention to people unless you are fighting them, or you're knocking them over in the middle of street."

Rei felt a bit dizzy as she finished, as if the concentration had been more so than just talking about things she knew already. She looked away from Ranma, as the eye contact was becoming embarrassing now that she wasn't diving into the depths of those blue eyes.

"That was awesome," he told her. "You read me like a bad fortune."

_Maybe my good fortune._

"We should probably go back before your gramps thinks I kidnapped you."

_If only..._

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she agreed, but only halfheartedly. The one-on-one with a cute boy had been nice.

Despite having an active school life, and working hard at the temple nights and weekends, Rei had not really talked with someone heart-to-heart in a while, let alone have a deep conversation of any kind.

"Let's walk slowly. When we go back, I have to do chores, and you have to rest your head more."

"Alright," he replied, his voice in definite agreement with it. "But let's talk about something else."

"Like what?"

"What's this Blood Brother's manga you're reading. It looks kind of..."

"Hey, it's a hardcore martial arts manga about twin brothers who..."

* * *

Rei did not realize it in that moment, but she hadn't smiled as much as she had today in the span of her life after her mother's death so many years before. In the next chapter, she walks Ranma to school, creating even more complications for her life than she can possible imagine.


	5. Chapter 5

If love's a battleground, school is just the opening salvo. Ranma finds school is going to be a little more interesting than he thought.

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Five

On the third day of Ranma's visit to Juuban, the truth that his father abandoned him began to sink in the instant he saw the blue, button-up boy's school uniform. It looked nothing like the hand-me-down uniforms he was used to. It was ironed, smelled like new clothes, and the colors were still sharp. The collar wasn't bent and the gold-colored buttons were still the originals. He felt the hem line and didn't feel any stitching common with used clothing.

He felt sick thinking about yet another new school, making friends he'd just say goodbye to in a few weeks, maybe a month at most. Then he'd be on the road for a few days, learn some new move that his father would dangle in front of him, and suddenly be in yet another a new school. He was glad that he only had another two years of junior high, then he wouldn't have to go through the whole process anymore, allowing him to concentrate on his training.

Something about this whole situation felt wrong to Ranma. He'd been at the temple for two days and they already had him enrolled in some school near Rei's. It usually took his pops several days to get him in anywhere, mainly because it was always a hassle getting his transcripts in order. Somehow, during Saturday, his pops must have enrolled him, but Ranma couldn't figure out how how he did it so fast, unless the old man had planned this from the start.

When he entered the dining room dressed in his uniform, neither Rei nor her grandfather raised an eyebrow. Rei sat with her back to him, near her grandfather, who sat at the end of the table. The girl was wearing the uniform she had been wearing the first he met her. Like his uniform, it was neatly ironed down the pleats of her skirt.

_She looks good in anything, _Ranma thought as he walked around to the other side. They'd come out to a rough start, because of the whole run-in and the bokken-bashing, but she seemed to not take it too seriously. Heck, she'd even talked with him civilly last night. All of that was beside the point, as his primary thought was: _Anyone who can cook the way she does is alright in my book._

"You look like your father when he was your age," the old priest told him with what sounded like pride in his voice. "He used to come over here early to wait for my son, but it was really just a ruse to join us in breakfast."

Ranma took notice that this was the first mention of Rei's father or at least an uncle. Rei didn't even look up at the mention as Ranma took a seat across from her.

"You sure this is okay, gramps?" he asked. He saw Rei look at him with concern, worry or possibly annoyance in her glance. He ignored it and kept talking to the her grandfather. Most of the time people consider me and the old man freeloaders or vagrants and aren't even half this nice to me."

The old priest guffawed, spitting out some rice down the table. "No wonder, with the lack of manners you and Genma-kun have. Why, I know you two are more than common vagabonds. I met you before your father took you on that trip to become the heir to your school. Boy, I even babysat the two of you right here in this very temple a few times when all of your folks were out and about doing young people things."

Through the entire dialog, Ranma's eyes opened wider and wider. This was the first person he'd met that actually knew his family before the training trip. Rei's eyes were deadlocked on her grandfather as well; it must have been news to her.

"We knew each other before?" Rei's voice was incredulous, her eyes bearing down on the old priest. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Ranma sat in silence, eating his food, wondering how far back this all went. This was the first person he'd met for a second time. He'd had childhood friends before, remembering as far back as Okonomiyaki Ucchan, but this was the first time he ever saw them after leaving them behind. He looked at Rei with fresh eyes.

"You didn't ask," her grandfather replied. "I was surprised you didn't, actually. You took to letting this one stay here so easily, I thought you remembered him somehow."

"We were two, gramps," he told the priest. "Er, sorry, Hino-san."

"Gramps is fine, Ranma-kun!" the old man said. "We're practically family. Your father practically lived at the temple in his youth, before going on a training trip of his own."

"I don't even call you gramps," Rei said quietly, but Ranma heard her voice just barely over her breath.

Moments later, they had finished breakfast and were on their way to the door. Rei led the way to where she approached a coat rack. She pulled her uniform jacket off a hook and slipped her slender arms into its sleeves. She looked at him then, and pointed to a book bag slung on the lowest hook.

"Yours," she told him, before grabbing one above it. Hers had significant weight, and looked to be full of books.

Ranma retrieved the book bag she had indicated for him to take and found it open. Inside, he found several notebooks, a pair of school slippers and a little clear box full of pens and pencils. He looked up at Rei in askance, but she instead of answers, she held out another question, in the form of a small box-shaped object covered in orange-and-pink floral patterned cloth.

"What's this?" he suspiciously asked, looking at it from all angles. _Too small to be books._

"Lunch," she told him with a blank face. He was beginning to notice that her bored expression had permeated their entire morning.

_She packed me a lunch?_ Ranma's mind couldn't process the information. He'd never received a homemade lunch before.

Moments later, the two junior high students walked down the hill, the boy after the girl. Surprising him, she kept a quick pace without slowing. A light breeze intermixed with heavy gusts making the morning chill, even through his uniform jacket. The breeze caught her long, raven black hair, sending the fragrance of her floral shampoo against him. He kept back far enough to not touch her beautiful, flowing hair, but close enough that he could still breathe in the refreshing scent of her.

Every couple of houses they passed, Rei would look back, catch a glance of him, and then continue, as if she were just making sure he hadn't run off. After the fifth glance back, Ranma figured a pattern to the madness and plotted a trap.

"Gah!" she exclaimed, startled when on the sixth turn, she witnessed Ranma's ultimate distraction technique, something he had practiced as a way to catch way-too-serious opponents off guard. Using his thumbs, he pulled his mouth wide open, while strategically utilizing his index fingers to stretch his eyelids, and finally pushing his baby finger to push up his nose. The effectiveness of this move caused her to stumble slightly, breaking the grace of her walk.

"Gotcha," he told her with a grin, after ceasing the display of his technique.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded of him, though the gruffness of her tone was offset by and idle chuckle.

"Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts special technique: Face of Hell."

Her eyes opened wide, as her mouth fell agape. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"It didn't work well against pops," he started explaining, "but I beat the heck out of this bully last year who thought he was a junior high version of a dojo destroyer."

"You used that tech... stupid face in a fight?" Rei said doubtfully. "That's something I'd need to see to believe."

"It only works against people who take themselves too seriously," he told her.

"Hey," she said in mock warning. "Don't think that stupid face of yours has any powers over me."

Ranma shrugged. "I'm not the one who jumped."

With a shake of her head, Rei beckoned him. "You stand beside me, troublemaker. We have to keep going or we're going to be late."

So the two continued on the trek to the unknown school in the unknown part of Juuban. Rei walked on the outside of the sidewalk, preventing him from walking on the edge of the curb as he liked to. Walking to school only offered a minor amount of health benefit and almost no training benefit in Ranma's mind. Not only that, he was seriously bored. If he knew where this place was, he could pick her up and run her there in half the time.

The thought of picking up Rei made Ranma's face feel warm. He turned to stare through the main gate of as an elementary school to hide his face from the girl, and stared out at the kids who were arriving to start school. They ranged from a year younger than him, to six years younger. Most of the students were entering the building, but a handful were sitting on the stairs leading up to the school.

It was then he saw a kid, maybe ten or eleven, balance walking along the rail up the center of the stairs.

_That would be excellent practice_, he thought, as they passed the entrance of the school, giving him a view of nothing but the long wall around the school.

Without a second thought, Ranma vaulted up to the top of the school's wall, drawing a surprised gasp from Rei.

"What are you doing, Ranma?" Rei demanded, her lack of honorifics rather noticeable in her bewilderment.

"Training," he told her, walking along the top of the wall. He looked down at the girl, who started walking again to keep up.

"How'd you even jump that high?" she asked beneath him. "It's a vertical eight-foot jump. That's ridiculous even for crazy, traveling martial artists like you."

"Ri-dic-ulous," he mimicked, sticking his tongue out at her. "Yep, I am ridiculous."

Rei returned the gesture, upping the ante by showing him her own Hell Face.

He laughed, nearly losing his balance. She looked utterly ri-dic-ulous.

"Seems someone takes his training too seriously," Rei told him, sounding rather pleased with herself.

"Maybe," he replied, not willing go back on the power of the Hell Face. A moment later, he grinned. "Or maybe it was that big ole' hair poking out yer nose."

She grabbed her face quickly, covering her nose. "What?! I do not have hair growing out my nose!"

"Gotcha," he said, showing his teeth in a cheeky grin. "You can't beat me."

He only then caught a glimpse of the kids at the school pointing at him as he walked along their school's perimeter wall. He waved to them, and some of them actually waved back.

"Whatever," she told him, picking up her pace.

After he had to jump down off that wall, he made it a point to jump on every half wall, fence and barrier he came across. After the third, Rei stopped muttering and shaking her head about it. Twenty minutes later, even this new trick to simultaneously annoy her and do some balance training was slowly losing its charm.

"How far away is this school?" Ranma asked, jumping down from the top of a chain link fence to the sidewalk beside her.

"A few blocks that way," she told him, pointing down the side street. "We're a bit early, so there won't be many students around yet."

He stayed grounded for the remainder of their trip to the school. As he approached what she had been referring to, he realized that it was in fact two school buildings, one a block down the street from the other. Neither was particularly large, but both looked like separate institutions. It was then he noticed that all the girls were walking past the first one and down to the second one. They all wore similar uniforms to Rei. All the boys, dressed similarly to him, were entering the first school.

"It's split between boys and girls," Ranma stated, surprised. He'd never seen anything like that.

Rei nodded, touching his shoulder and pointing to a statue in the center of the walkway up to the boy's school. "Yeah, split in half. They are Catholic schools. The boys' is run by monks, and the girls' is run by nuns."

"You mean they're_ religious_ schools?" Ranma asked, stunned by the thought. "I'm not even religious, let alone _Christian. _Aren't you a Shinto priestess, miko-chan?"

"Don't call me that. And it doesn't matter what you believe. You don't have to be Catholic to go to school here." Rei began walking towards the entrance to his new school. "I'll take you to the registrar."

There were only maybe twenty male students walking to or around the entrance, but every single one of them was staring at the two of them. Ranma pondered their curiosity when Rei grabbed his jacket by the shoulder and tugged him behind her.

"Come on, Ranma," she said, not letting go of her grip.

Rei seemed either oblivious to or completely indifferent to their staring and whispering. As she pulled him up the steps to the school, he heard someone whisper "Hino-sama" in her passing. The effect was more dramatic inside of the entrance of the school, where a dozen or so male students stood at the shoe lockers, talking amongst themselves. They instantly stopped and gawked at the boy and the girl dragging him.

"Alright, switch your shoes, then I'll introduce you," she told him, as she began slipping out of her shoes.

The whispering was beginning to bother Ranma as he slipped his shoes into the nearest locker, and then put on the indoor shoes that were in his bag. He glared daggers at the boys nearby, but they only glared back. He couldn't understand why they were already angry at him, when he had just arrived for the first time today.

The schoolgirl priestess took him down an adjacent hallway, and then slid open a door to an office. Ranma followed close behind, where he found himself standing in front of a secretary's desk. The woman behind it might have been in her thirties, but Ranma couldn't tell through her thick glasses and long, curly hair. She looked like she could have been Rei's mother, or maybe her much older sister or a cousin. The resemblance was entirely too much for him not to notice.

"Hello, Iori-san," Rei said sweetly, the pitch of her voice an octave higher than normal, followed by a quick bow.

"Rei-chan!" the woman exclaimed. "It's so good to see you. You don't visit me over here often enough." She stood up and walked around the desk to embrace the girl. The woman was about Rei's height, and her hair was just as long as Rei's. She was dressed in a dark blue pantsuit, she looked a lot younger than he'd originally thought, and probably wasn't much older than twenty. "How's grandfather doing? Well, I hope?"

Rei nodded once the woman stepped back. "Yes, he's more lively than men half his age." She stopped and looked back at Ranma, who thought he might have been forgotten in the reunion.

"This is Saotome Ranma-san?" the woman asked, adjusting her glasses to look at him. "Tall, handsome, athletic, he's really a catch, huh, Rei-chan?"

Rei's eyes widened, imitating a deer in headlights with her lack of response.

Ranma, however, only heard one thing: his name from a complete stranger. Someone had definitely known he was coming, and had set this whole thing up. He looked at Rei, whose face was red and whose eyes were looking everywhere but at him. He gave her the benefit of the doube that she hadn't known anything about this until now.

"Yes, I'm Ranma," he told the woman, bowing to her. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been expecting me?"

"Grandfather Hino told me to enroll you last Tuesday," Iori told him with a big smile.

_Pops, you son of a..._ Ranma mentally cursed his old man. _He knew the whole time and didn't tell me._

"Your paperwork is already finalized," Iori said brightly. Ranma realized how pretty she was when she smiled with her eyes closed, finding her irresistibly cute. "I have your class assignment right here." She handed him a piece of paper. "Give this to Professor Nakama in room 1C."

He examined the admission note, his head swimming between the strangeness of the situation and being close between the two cousins.

"I'm sorry, Ranma-kun," Rei told him, touching his arm. "I have to go, but you'll be okay, right?"

"Yeah," he said, blinking a few times.

"I'll meet you out the front gate after classes are over," she said as she walked out. "Bye, Iori-san. See you later!"

"Bye, Rei-chan!" Iori said with a wave. She looked back at Ranma. "She's such a sweetheart. Go easy on her, okay?"

Bewildered by that, Ranma put his hand on the back of his head. "Are you her older sister or something?"

The secretary laughed, shaking her head. "Close, but no. I'm her cousin. Rei's father is my mom's brother. They aren't close, but Rei-chan and I are very close. We grew up like sisters for a while, after her mom died. Until she moved to the temple, at least. Hey, why don't I show you to the classroom? It's not far from here."

Ranma nodded, and felt a little lightheaded when she put his hand on the small of his back and guided him out. _Are all Hino women this aggressive, and attractive?_

* * *

The last thing Ranma would have thought that morning on the walk to school was that he would be attending a private, all boy's middle school, and yet here he is. Through Rei's family, he finds himself in classes far above the usual cake walk, thrusting him into the role of a real student, not just a visitor in yet another training ground. However, has he opens the door to Professor Nakama's room, he is opening the door to someone from his past. Will this person be friend or foe, lover or mortal enemy, or something in between each? Find out in the next chapter of My Love's Flame.


	6. Chapter 6

The only thing more bleak than the past for Kuonji Ukyo is the future. Where once she was the heir to a successful street vendor's business, she now only has the hope that one day she might avenge herself, but when it comes... can she do it?

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 & Sailor Moon Fanfiction  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Six

Every night, for the past week, the nightmare had been the same. Tonight's was no different. She recalled it vividly as she showered that morning.

A girl in a blue dress walks into an empty barber shop and sits in one of the chairs. Her chestnut-colored hair reaches down to her waist. It's a symbol of her pride and her womanhood. She sees it as a reflection of herself; it grows long, and she tends it, and it is beautiful. Yet she walks into a barbershop filled with broken glass, sits down and watches it pool in her lap. A barber enters, but she does not look up, so she cannot see his face as he walks up behind her. The barber doesn't speak any words to her, and she only looks up when he pushes a long, bloody shard from the broken mirror in front of her before her eyes. She wants to scream, but she has no control over her movements. He wraps an apron around her neck and ties it in place.

"Just a little bit off the top." Her voice, her mouth is speaking, but against her volition. She tries to stand, but her hair is tying her to the chair now, as if it coiled around the handles on its own.

She pants unsteadily in fear, staring at the silent barber through the broken glass mirror, unable to see his face. He places the reflective side of the glass shard against her cheek. It's warm and wet, and as he pulls it back, it leaves blood streaks against her pale skin. He then takes her hair in his free hand and pulls it back, unwrapping it from the chair. Her head is yanked back to chair's headrest. She watches him in the mirror as he takes the glass shard and puts it near her long, chestnut hair. She only knows that it's finally over when her head head is released.

Suddenly free of the trap, she looks back to see herself, wearing a barber's tunic and holding her own locks of severed hair.

"Now we're free."

She stepped out of the shower onto the cold tiles of her bathroom that she shared with her father. Wiping the steamy mirror with her towel, she examined her blurry reflection. She ran a hand through her short, wet hair, and then sighed in remembrance of the day her father took his electric razor to the back of her head, hacking off every hair that dropped below her ears. She had salvaged as much of it as she could from her father's mutilation of it last year, but it was so short after that, there was little she could do about it then.

"Boys don't have long, pretty hair!" The words still burned her. It was the first time in a long time that the man had expressed much interest in holding her to the vow she had made as a child to cast away her womanhood until she avenged herself. Five years ago, he had taken to drinking, and changed from the gruff, but accommodating man he had once been. The last five years, he had only seemed interested in drinking and collecting unemployment checks, and only took occasional jobs in order to renew it when it expired.

Alone, she had to keep teaching herself, how to cook, how to fight and how to survive without his help. Practicing her own style of martial arts, combining cooking and fighting had taken years to perfect, costing most of her childhood. Working at any restaurant that would employ a child illegally, she had spent the last two and a half years putting away as much as she could. The only reason she had let her hair grow stay long was that it didn't symbolize the girl she had been, or the boy she was now, but the woman she wanted to become. Her old man had reminded her, whether intentionally or not, that she had to sacrifice everything for revenge.

Now that her chestnut-colored hair had grown out again, she wondered about what she should do now. She had styled it messy, less of a boy cut and longer. She fingered a lock of damp hair. Despite her father's attempt to control, her hair only continued to grow, to repair what he had taken. In another few years, it would be long again if she let it continue.

She stared at her hair in the mirror. It looked like she had stuck it in the dryer after towel drying it, causing it to stick up every which way. Her bangs were now just long enough that they fell into her eyes when she didn't brush them back.

"Boy, breakfast!" Her father's voice from the living room sounded through the thin walls.

"Just a minute, papa!" Her reply echoed in their bathroom as she brushed her hair down. Ukyo needed to hurry, as she had slept through her alarm this morning after working until late at the restaurant, pulling a double shift to help her father pay the rent in the upcoming week. She had refused to touch her savings to pay for his neglect.

Ukyo stifled a yawn, and then ran through a quick version of getting ready for school. She was done in just under three minutes. After she put on her shirt and slacks, the girl ventured into the living room, where her father was waiting for her.

"There you are," her father said, drunk this early, or still drunk from the night before. "Thought you'd run off, or died or something."

_If only I had run, _she thought coolly, forcing a smile, when she noticed a bottle of saké with only a quarter of its contents remaining. "Morning, papa."

"Morning, boy," he told her, if not warmly, at least with some manner of affection. "Get to breakfast now."

"Yes, sir," she told him with a smile. There was no way he could get under her skin on Monday.

Most kids her age would be loath to go to school, but for the girl who was masquerading as a boy, school was an escape. No one knew little Ucchan, the girl who had been abandoned by her fiancé and had her dowry stolen. They knew a boy named Kuonji Ukyo, who was the captain of the junior Kyudo archery club, and the second baseman of the junior SAAS _Happapan_ team, her school's baseball club. They knew her as the hero of SAAS, the boy who ran out the upperclassman bullies.

In the kitchen, she made enough okonomiyaki for breakfast for the two of them, and another portion for lunch.

"Boy, you better not be late for school," her father told her as she walked into the living room to serve him breakfast. "If I have to get another call from that Principal of yours again, you are going to rue the day you were born."

"I won't be, papa," Ukyo assured him.

She ate breakfast quickly, finishing most of it before she ran out of time. Minutes later, after she grabbed her coat and book bag from her room, she was on her bicycle, riding to school.

The cool morning wind felt like heaven against her skin as she rode across Tokyo on her bike. The ride to school took her past Tokyo Tower, and into the Juuban suburbs. She had to go far out of her way to get there, but distancing herself from her home was necessary to avoid the stigma she had grown up with. The long ride to school gave her time to think clearly for the first time in a long time.

Ukyo had started at the St. Agnes of Assisi School for grades seven through twelve, affectionately called the SAAS, pronounced "sass." Even though she had to hide her gender to attend it, she truly felt welcome there. The boys in the school didn't question her place among them. She even was popular, as her training in her youth made her really athletic, giving her the chops to do well in not one but two sports clubs. In Juuban, she had truly found a place that loved her back.

Normally, she took the ride slowly, making it to school in about a half-hour. Today, she flew to school, taking every shortcut she could find. She didn't have baseball practice this morning, otherwise she would already be late, but every minute counted when you woke up twenty minutes late. Today, she made it to school in just above twenty minutes.

She hopped off her bike and walked it the last block, not wanting to run over any classmates.

"Kuonji-taicho!"

The voice was unmistakable. Hino Rei, the vice-captain of the Kyudo archery team, waved at Ukyo on her way out of the all-boys school.

"Hino-san," Ukyo said with a smile. Rei had been a strong supporter of the first ever grade seven captain of the archery team, and was almost as naturally good at archery as Ukyo. The two had talked at length many nights after club practice, when Rei didn't have to work at her temple, and when Ukyo didn't have to work at the restaurant. Between their busy schedules and similar interests, the two had a lot in common. "Visiting your cousin?"

"Among other things," she told her as the stopped next to each other. "I'm really sorry, but I need to skip club today."

Ukyo blinked in surprise. Rei had not missed a single class for any reason before. "How come?"

"My grandfather invited a guest to stay with us for a while," Rei said, rolling her eyes. "So I'm in charge of showing him around for now."

"I see," Ukyo said with a nod. "It's fine today, but remember we have to practice for the tournament next month."

"Of course, Kuonji-taicho!" Rei bowed her head. "I'll be back on Wednesday, even if I have to bring him with me." She smiled at Ukyo, and then waved.

"Bye, Hino-san!" Ukyo said warmly.

The co-ed clubs before and after school were what really made SAAS and TAS, Thomas Aquinas School, really function. Despite being entirely separate schools, the two cooperated for all events and clubs, as both were small and would not be able to fill some of the more eclectic clubs.

Ukyo locked her bike at the front of the school, and then entered the gates. She had a few minutes to spare, so she took her time slipping into her inside shoes and then locating her class. She pulled the back door open to the class and entered. Professor Nakama was already writing on the board as she took her seat.

"Kuonji-san," Koji, the boy who sat behind her whispered. "Did you see him? The new kid?"

Ukyo turned to him and shook her head. "There's someone new joining the class?"

Koji pointed at the front of the class. Next to the professor stood a boy she hadn't seen before.

"They say he knows Hino-sama personally," Koji told him.

_Hino-sama,_ Ukyo cringed at the name. After she made a name for herself at the Kyudo archery club, Rei had become a mini-idol for the seventh grade class, and even some of the eighth graders. Ukyo had tried to discourage it, but it was too grassroots to stop, and now she was all but untouchable for any of the boys at SAAS.

"I'm sure that's not true," Ukyo whispered back. "Rei doesn't hang out with anyone, except at the Archery club."

Koji shrugged. "I dunno, man. My buddy saw her _holding his hand_ at the shoe lockers."

Ukyo blinked at that statement. Rei had never even shown the slightest bit of interest in any of the boys on the archery team, or anyone else for that matter. She examined the new kid intensely. He was fairly handsome and looked athletic, but she didn't see any reason why Rei would latch onto him. He did look oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't place his face.

"Alright, class, it's time to begin. Before Tatsuya-kun takes attendance, I would like to introduce you to the new boy joining our class. Introduce yourself, son."

The boy walk to the front of the class, and with the most self-assured looking face Ukyo had ever seen, said, "The name's Saotome Ranma. What's up?"

Some of the boys in the back of the class laughed at his ridiculous informal introduction. Others whispered between each other. Ukyo only stared in shock.

The words hit her like slap to the face. _Saotome Ranma_. She could never forget the name of the person responsible for her current exile from her home and the complete loss of her self-identity as a girl. With all the smugness she remembered from her childhood when he would beat her up and take okonomiyaki as his winnings, his face suddenly clicked in her mind. She now recognized him completed as the scene from seven years ago replayed itself in her mind.

"_Ranma, wait for me!" a six-year-old Ukyo screams, as runs after her childhood playmate._

_"Bye, Ucchan!" he yells back, oblivious of her plight. "Bye-bye!"_

_She runs until she's exhausted, too exhausted to even stand. She finds herself in a park, far away from her home. It's not until a police officer takes her home that evening that she returns home, an unwelcome sight in her own father's eyes._

Nausea filled the pit of her stomach with butterflies, even as she got light-headed. Only a few times in her life had she ever been as angry as she was now.

"OK, OK, quiet down now class," the teacher said mildly, patting Ranma on the shoulder. "Why don't you sit in the empty desk between Yoshida-kun and Kuonji-kun? Please raise your hands, boys."

The words didn't compute as Ukyo stared forward at the boy who had ruined her life. Ranma walked down the aisle to her right and sat in the spot directly next to her.

"Hey," Ranma said as he sat, dropping his bag on the desk. He stared back at Ukyo. "Hey, you Yoshida-san?"

"That's me," the boy on his other side said. "That's Kuonji-san."

"What's with him?" Ranma asked, turning around to face Yoshida Tobito.

"Don't know," he replied. "He's usually the nicest person here."

Ranma turned back to his desk to empty his book bag's contents into it. He looked up at Ukyo after a moment.

"Uh, something on my face?" Ranma asked, his tone confused. He rubbed his face for anything on there.

Ukyo tried to shake her head, but only got to curt motions out of the attempt. After that, Ranma ignored her for the rest of the class.

It wasn't until the teachers changed that Ukyo recovered enough to think about her situation. The boy whom she had hunted with her father for years suddenly landed in her lap, only after she had given up her quest for revenge. It felt as though Fate had slapped her in the face for going back on her word.

She excused herself to the next teacher with the excuse of feeling ill, and she must have looked it as well, because the teacher seemed to agree with the assessment. Making her way to the nurse's office, she found an empty bed and collapsed on it. The stress of everything caught up with her, causing her to fall asleep.

Hours, days or months later for all Ukyo knew, she woke when the nurse shook her. She looked up at the old Catholic brother who treated the kids of the school. Her eyes felt heavy and dry as she stared at the collar of his black habit.

"Kuonji-san, are you feeling well enough to go home? Class is over."

Shocked by the words, Ukyo shot up. "Yes, sir."

Walking as quickly as she could, Ukyo returned to the classroom, where she found it empty but for a couple of students lingering behind. She grabbed her bag and hustled to the front of the school, nearly forgetting her shoes on the way out. Pushing through the front doors, she scanned the courtyard for Ranma. It took her a moment, but she spotted him by the gate, standing with his back against the wall.

She breathed out a huge sigh, as if he she had held her breath since waking up. The thought of taking her eyes off Ranma for one second sickened her. For all she knew, he would not come back tomorrow morning, and she'd have to search for him all over again. Six years of searching ended with him walking into her classroom, and taking the seat next to her.

_When I tell my father, he's going to flip,_ she thought, the likelihood of attaining her long-sought-after revenge suddenly more real than even the moment she and her father swore together to have it.

"There you are, Kuonji-taicho!" someone exclaimed from behind her, causing Ukyo to jump. "Oh, sorry, Captain."

Ukyo recognized Seyama Masao, a short eighth grader from the archery club. "What can I do for you, Seyama-sempai?"

Masao shook his head. "I heard you were sick, Captain, so I came to make sure you were okay."

Ukyo nodded. "Thanks. Can you tell the club that Hino-san is busy today, and I'm feeling ill so neither of us will make it?"

The smaller boy nodded, looking over at the gate where Ranma was standing. "Is that the new kid?"

Moments after Masao asked the question, Rei stepped into view, causing all the boys at the gate to turn and stare.

"Yes, it is," Ukyo replied, her voice low with anger.

"Rei-sama knows him?" Masao looked awed by the revelation. "New kid is already a star. You better hope he can't shoot a bow with luck like that. He could even take your spot, Kuonji-taicho!"

_Over my dead body,_ she thought, clenching her fists.

"Yeah, Cap, I know the feeling. Every boy here's heart just disintegrated."

Masao obviously read her face wrong, because the only thing in her heart was a burning desire for revenge.

"Will you lead the team while I'm away, Seyama-sempai?"

"Sure thing, Captain!" Masao bounded off towards the all-girls school, where the archery club held session in their dedicated building on the field behind it.

It was not long after that Rei and Ranma left the school behind, going the opposite direction to Ukyo's apartment. That did not dissuade her, as she had hours to burn while she was scheduled to lead club practice. She almost forgot her bike, having to turn around once at the gate to go and grab it. It took her a minute, but she caught up to the pair, keeping a distance.

She watched them, keeping just out of sight on the trip. Ranma walked on every fence, wall, pole and anything else steady enough to support his weight. Despite the complete insanity of that, Rei seemed to ignore it, talking to him naturally the entire time. In fact, they seemed rather well acquainted, prompting Ukyo to wonder if they had some familial relation.

It wasn't until the pair both arrived at the Hikawa Shrine that Ukyo stopped following them. They walked through the gate, and into the courtyard towards the shrine in the center of the temple grounds. Ukyo hid at the gate, watching them until they disappeared behind it.

She considered investigating further, but it was obvious now that Ranma was staying at the temple with Rei and her grandfather. They were either family, or worse yet, engaged. The scheming Genma could have set up something for his son to inherit the temple to take it from Rei. Either way, Ukyo swore to meet with her friend tomorrow and sort it all out. Either way, she needed more information about the situation and the whereabouts of Ranma's father before she made any moves.

_Saotome Ranma, enjoy the next few days. They will be your last!_

* * *

The life of Kuonji Ukyo is not easy as she walks a dangerous line between truth and lies, but now that her past has come back to haunt her, she has to face it once and for all. Nothing, not even one of her archery club friends, can stand in the way of her revenge. Find out what happens in the next chapter of My Love's Flame.


	7. Chapter 7

One plus one can only ever add up to two, but other variables complicate even the simplest solutions when it comes to the human heart. When it comes to the boy that stole her heart, Rei will have to choose to side with him, or the one person in her life she truly considers a friend.

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Seven

As she stared down at him from atop her own bed, Rei saw Ranma scratch the back of his head as he slowly made sense of his pile of homework. When he looked up at her from his seat on the floor, she beamed down at him. Despite her insistence that he use her desk, the boy had instead scattered his books on the floor. "I sat at a desk all day," had been his reply to that. There was something charming about how he had found a way to rebel against something to make himself feel better, despite not being able to do what he really wanted, which was to leave and find his father.

"A bet is a bet. Men of honor don't go back on their word," he had told her, giving her some more insight into his strange sense of honor. Her fear that he would leave prematurely to look for his father had ebbed upon hearing him take his word seriously. She felt differently about him now as she peeked down at him from her seat on her bed. Every second they were together was like magnetism.

"I can't believe I'm done with my chores and it's only five o'clock," Rei told the subject of her disbelief.

The boy who was currently crouched over a math book looked back up at her again. "That's because you didn't have me before."

_So I have you?_ Even the thought made her heart skip a beat.

"Thank you, Ranma-kun," she told him warmly. "I really appreciate it."

"I scratch your back; you scratch mine," he told her, and then turned to face his homework. "You help me catch up; I help you around the temple. Unless, of course, gramps decides it's time for me to repair a roof or something."

Her smile slipped a bit as she pondered his words. He had a neutral, platonic answer for everything, and then out of nowhere he would hit her with the smoothest thing anyone could say. After her readings of him the night before, he had become difficult to get further insights into. _Maybe reading into it will only make this more confusing._ She slipped down to the floor beside him as she considered what he meant.

_It doesn't have to be a fair trade, Ranma, _her mind said to him as she smiled, catching his eye momentarily. He moved over and she slipped next to him, purposefully pushing her knee up against his. He seemed unaware of the contact as he focused on a page in the same history book she had in her desk at school. Although it was true she had offered him the trade on their walk home after he had complained about his homework load, she still wished he wouldn't be so gosh darn fair.

His words had almost made her laugh at the time."I can't believe I have a weeks worth of homework on the first day of school." AAS and TAS were known for their high graduation rate, although it was largely considered a consequence of its notorious vetting system for new students. The first few months of every new student's life was an act of hazing for a career student. For someone like Ranma, who was in and out of schools and houses since he was an infant, she could only imagine how difficult he would have it.

After two hours of sifting through his books, which he had lined up in a misshapen circle, Ranma had proven himself a competent student. She had woefully misjudged the martial artist, whom she had thought would need hand holding through even the most basic of homework assignments. During their walk to class in the morning, he had confessed to her that he'd missed most of last year, and despite that, had still received a passing grade from his teachers. Although she had disregarded it before as sympathy grades, he had changed her mind as his ability to learn overtook his lack of general academic knowledge.

However, even some simple concepts were new to him, so she spent most of the evening with him guiding him to the right place to find answers. He refused to accept easy answers, and more than once she'd had to go through her old books in her closet to show him answers to his questions.

By seven o'clock, she realized that she had not played with Deimos and Phobos since Ranma had arrived. _They're going to nip my ears for not visiting them more often, I bet._

"Let's take a break," she suggested to him. "We both deserve one after all this homework and studying."

Ranma dropped his pencil and nodded, raising his arms to stretch. "Yeah, I definitely need to do something else for a while."

At the front door, they both grabbed their school jackets and began to slip into their shoes. Halfway through the procedure, she caught Ranma staring.

"What?" she asked, slipping her arm into her jacket.

He shook his head, kicking into his shoes quickly. "Nothin'."

She watched him curiously as he unlatched the front doors, and then slid them open. He turned back to face her. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it. She looked into his eyes for a moment, confused by his actions.

"Are you okay?" she asked, drawing closer.

He took a step back and spoke with something in his voice she hadn't heard before. "It's only dusk." He pointed outside at the sky behind the temple. From her position, she couldn't see, but she hesitated approaching the door while he was in it. He looked almost shy at that moment.

"Let's go into the garden." She looked past him and saw the temple against the horizon. The view was one of the few perks for living on a hill on a natural patch of land, surrounded by a suburban neighborhood all around. Unlike Ranma, she was used to such sights, but even she was awed upon walking out into that evening's surreal sunset.

Rei had to catch her breath in witness to the vibrant colors in the sky above her. A misty, midnight blue cloud cover filled a third of the sky to the east, hiding dark, patchy of clouds in its depths. Despite its almost nonexistence in the horizon, the sun illuminated the remainder of the cloud cover with remarkably rich oranges and reds, to the bright yellow glare against the clouds nearest to its descent in the west. Where the darkness and light met, dark reds and oranges filled the easterly sky, but it was in between those areas, where she could still see the sky between the ripples of clouds, that a rich, imperial purple color exposed a waxing moon, peeking down at them.

"Wow," Ranma said as he took a few steps into the yard. "Just wow."

The two walked to one of the benches in the garden along the side of the temple, where there were no trees obscuring the view of the yard. It had been placed along the top of the temple grounds for the best viewpoint. Despite living on the hill for years now, Rei had only ever sat there a few times. He sat directly in the middle of the bench and put his arms around both of the back on both of the sides, causing her face to heat up. Luckily, the light of the sky would match her skin tone now, so she had little worry of being exposed.

When she sat next to Ranma, only inches from him on the bench, and she felt the heat of his leg on hers, she could scarcely breathe. His arm was around her, despite being wrapped around the back of the bench and not touching her. She stared at the sight before them, enjoying the heat emanating from him as they sat so close.

She sneaked a peek of his face, but still didn't know if he felt anything about her, or didn't realize that his gesture was anything but platonic. This was more than a little ridiculously romantic for her thirteen-year-old mind.

"I suppose there are worse places to spend your time," the boy said wistfully. It almost sounded like an apology for his comments about her "rundown temple" before, but she knew better than to have taken those seriously in the first place.

"Want to see something cool?" she asked him. He turned to face her, withdrawing his arm to his side. She took a few breaths to calm herself. "Watch this." She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

To his credit, Ranma did not jump upon seeing two full-sized ravens land on Rei's shoulders in sequence. However, he did slide back away from her and put his hands up to guard his face. The ravens paid him no mind after their landing, nipping at her hair.

"Ranma, meet Deimos and Phobos." She pointed to each as she said its name.

"Kaa!" Deimos said as Rei spoke his name. However, Phobos was quiet, being closer to the boy. It turned its head to look at the boy as if it was considering him.

"Friends of yours?" Ranma asked hesitantly, at the edge of the bench. He didn't look scared, but the look in his eyes definitely had the appearance of shock.

"Yes, we're old friends," Rei told him warmly, gently petting Deimos' head. "Kaa! Kaa!" Deimos responded to the attention, its wings flapping once. She never stroked the ravens more than a few times, as they didn't particularly like being manhandled. However, they did require a bit of touching now and again, or they would complain by nipping her ears instead of her hair. She was actually surprised about their good behavior now, despite having neglected them for a few days.

"Really?" Ranma asked, in wonder. "I mean, how can you even tell them apart from each other, let alone any other crow in the neighborhood?"

The smile on her lips cracked to show teeth as she touched Phobos lightly. "They're the only two crows here, for one. None of the other birds come near the temple since they've come around." Ranma nodded at her, scooting in towards her again.

"Nice birdy," Ranma told the raven as he reached in to pet it.

"Kaa! Kaa!" Phobos responded, allowing the action, much to Rei's surprise. No one had ever touched either of the ravens aside from her. They usually got angry and left.

"They were chicks when I first moved into the temple," she told him, watching his finger tenderly stroke the bird's head. "I found them abandoned by their mother, so I raised them myself. Gramps—I mean—grandfather helped me tend to them. I'll leave out the details, because it's kind of a weird story, but they've always come when I called out to them. And I can tell them apart by their sizes, and the shoulders they land on, always the same one each time."

Ranma pulled back his hand, his eyes back on the dusk sky. "Don't get me wrong, it's totally weird, but it's also kinda cool that you have two wild ravens as pets. You are a part of this place, and they are, too. I mean, you have roots here, even if it's just two strangely intelligent birds and a weird old man."

"Heeeey," Rei warned, glaring at him, but hardly meaning it. A moment later, she couldn't hold the ruse and broke into a smile. "He's my weird old gramps, so take it easy on him, alright?"

The wide smile that spread across Ranma's face was the first real one she had seen light up his face. It was the kind that could only be expressed with genuine, heartfelt happiness. He leaned back, resting his elbow on the back of the bench as he turned towards her.

Her heart skipped a beat in the half dozen seconds that passed as they stared into each others eyes. Almost as if reading her mind, the ravens took off, breaking the tension of the moment. The pair of teenagers watched the pair of birds land to roost in the trees on the north side of the temple. She turned her head back to Ranma a moment later to see him staring out at the sky again.

"I'm really jealous, you know," he told her. "I've never stayed anywhere for very long, and nowhere even close to as nice as this."

The words sank in as Rei watched him, her eyes unable to look away from the boy's face.

The teens only lingered there a few more minutes, until their mutual embarrassment drove them to go and find the dinner that her grandfather had prepared. Later, they both returned to Rei's room, where Ranma continued to work at his stack of homework, while she intermittently helped him and read manga.

After another half hour of coaching him through some of the harder problems, she noticed that he seemed to be fine doing the rest on his own. She daydreamed on her bed for a while, not quite sure what to do with herself now that he was well on his way to finishing the pile of assignments.

"Rei?" Ranma caught her attention. She peeked down at him from her bed. He point to one of her posters. "I've been meaning to ask, who is that?"

Rei looked up at the concert poster that she had purchased at her first concert that she had ever been to. "Aino Minako, the pop singer."

"Aren't girls supposed to like boy idols?" Ranma asked dryly, answering problems on his paper.

"Don't be silly, Ranma-kun," she told him softly. "She's proof that girls, no matter what age, can achieve their dreams. Shouldn't I look up to that ideal for inspiration?"

"Sorry I asked," he said, his eyes focused on his page scribbling.

"No need to be sorry," she replied, adjusting to lie on her chest. She watched him with head propped up by her hands. "You have to ask to learn and grow. Now you know a little bit more about me."

He stopped writing for a moment and looked up, surprised by her response. "Uh, okay." She smiled at him again, and he looked a little embarrassed.

A few minutes later, he dropped his pencil in his math notebook, and then closed it. "Done."

Rei clapped her hands together. "Yay! Now let's get some cookies!"

"Wait, there's cookies?!"

Dawn came swiftly for the girl who had stayed up too late playing with her new friend. Cookies had led to card games, and then stupid dares until in their exhaustion, everything became funny. It wasn't until light shone in through her east facing window that the consequences of her actions from the night before became apparent. The blinding light from the morning began to draw her out of deep sleep. However, she felt far too fatigued to wake yet, so she pulled the covers over her head and went back to sleep.

It wasn't until the knock on the door that she realized how big a mistake she had made.

"Huh? What?" She popped her head out of the blanket and stared bleary-eyed at the door. _Oh, no! I overslept!_

"You getting ready to go?" Ranma's voice sounded through the door. "We're gonna be late if we don't leave soon."

The next ten minutes were a blur as she pushed past the surprised Ranma, and then rushed down the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Five minutes later, she burst out of the bathroom, her hair still dripping, only wrapped in a towel. This time Ranma was nowhere to be seen, and for that she was thankful as the embarrassment would be yet another thing to endure this morning. She then dressed and wrapped her head with her towel.

"Don't laugh," she warned the two watching her as she entered the dining room. "What time is it?"

"We're about ten minutes late," Ranma told her, biting into an apple. He held one out to her. "Want one?"

"How can you be so calm?!" Rei demanded, snatching the offered apple. "We have to go!"

"You gonna wear a towel on your head to school?" he said with a smirk.

"No, genius," she said sticking her tongue out at him. "I'm going to air dry it on the run to class."

The pair took off after a moment being childish, jogging the entire way to class. The experience did not seem new to Ranma, who he hardly even broke a sweat. The same could not be said of Rei, who was suitably fatigued by the time she made it to school, sliding in just before the bell rang.

One of the girls in her class spread her arms and said, "Safe!" A few girls giggled, but for the most part the class had never even seen their class representative any less than ten minutes early. The teacher had not arrived yet, so she placed her head on the desk in exhaustion.

"Are you okay, Hino-san?" the mousy girl with thick glasses next to her asked, concern in her small voice.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Thank you for your concern, Murata-san. I just ran for the last fifteen minutes without stopping, so I'm a bit winded." The little girl nodded, smiling at her.

By second period, she had regained much of her dignity after managing to catch her breath, to brush her hair, and even to participate in class. By third period, she had recovered enough to realize she had forgotten to bring lunches for herself and Ranma. _He'll just have to buy lunch today for himself today. _It wasn't until halfway through solving the math problem her teacher had written on the blackboard that it really sank in just how unlikely that would be.

Ranma had arrived at the temple with two shirts, one pair of pants, his martial arts gi and not a single pair of socks. She learned this after washing his laundry the day after she had smashed his head open with a bokken. She felt that the chances of him having any money at this point were slim, especially since she had forced him to buy her lunch on the Saturday they had met in the market. _Oh hell, I must have come off like a total bitch._

Even if Ranma didn't care one bit, Rei needed to settle that debt between them. The afternoon they had run into each other in the market, she had seen him well before the boy had run straight into her. In fact, she had stopped after noticing Ranma and his father arguing. They looked out of place, dressed in their dirty martial arts uniforms, a far cry from the dozen or so students, and the middle-aged housewives roaming about. By the time Ranma fell backwards into her, she could have avoided him. Even now, she really could not understand why she hadn't tried to get out of the way, but she saw something in him as he fell towards her. She could only describe the as an aura of fire, and he had sucked her in like a moth to a flame.

Ignoring all the little voices of reason that told her it would be a terrible idea, Rei purchased two lunches at the cafeteria, and then left the school. None of the teachers tried to stop her as she walked across the street to SAAS. She recognized some of the ones who worked at both schools, and exchanged greetings with them. By the time she reached the cafeteria, the echo of the boys inside resounded down the hall.

When she pushed the doors open, nothing could have prepared her for the spectacle that played out next. At the counter, at least fifty boys were pressed back to chest, shoving and pulling at each other in a vertical pile. She blinked in surprise, trying to make sense of the event when she heard the yell.

"Tuna bread!" a voice boomed from behind the lunch counter. Following this, the lunch server tossed a piece of bread into the air above the swelling crowd, which then surged toward it. Unfortunately, the bread was flying directly at her. A sudden wave of panic stilled her as she stared, wide-eyed at the stampeding hoard of teen boys.

"Watch out!" she heard someone call out, and moments later, she was airborne in the arms of an agile rescuer. She yelped in surprise, sticking one hand on his back to balance herself, and the other reaching to go around his neck, but she missed, ruffling the boy's hair. A moment later, he landed on a lunch table nearby.

Her lungs could barely keep up with the large, fear-induced breaths she was sucking in, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Hey!" a boy yelled as his lunch splashed in his face.

"Are you alright?" her savior asked, dropping down to the ground just as gracefully as he had landed. Her head span as he set her down. "Careful now." The voice sounded awfully familiar, causing her to look up at his face.

"Kuonji-taicho!" she exclaimed before trying to get her breathing under control. The short brown hair of Kuonji Ukyo was messy on the side she pushed her hand through to hold on. He looked dignified despite this small blemish on his otherwise perfect appearance.

"Hello, Hino-san," he said politely, bowing to her. "I'm surprised to see you, especially in the middle of the last bread calls."

She nodded, still in shock. The last time she had felt anything like that, she had fallen out of a tree as a child when the branches broke beneath her weight. Although only lasting a few seconds, the entire event felt as though it had taken a long time to play itself out. She could still see the surging crowd of boys trampling everything and everyone in their way for their singular need for free bread.

The girl patted herself down to make sure everything was in the right place. At the end of the examination, she realized that the bento lunches she had purchased at the school had not survived the ordeal. The flimsy plastic bento boxes had broken, causing the contents of each individual compartment to mash together.

"What are you doing here?" There was an edge to the boy's voice, as though he wanted to ask her something important, but couldn't bring himself to do so. She could feel the conflict in his manner, and that he was not just hiding something from her, but from everyone. It wasn't unusual for her to see when people were deceiving others, but rarely did she experience it out of the blue from someone who she knew well. Something had changed since yesterday, altering him at a level reserved for traumatic events.

"I'm sorry, Kuonji-taicho," she apologized, bowing her head in return. She tried to shake off the feeling that she was somehow eavesdropping on his personal experience. "I was looking for Saotome Ranma, to bring him his lunch."

As if he had swallowed something sour, Ukyo made a face briefly before composing himself. The feeling of deception in him felt amplified now she had explained herself, as if she had let him down in a way she could never know.

Weakly, she asked, "Do you know where he is?"

"Seaweed bread!" the voice yelled from across the cafeteria, causing the herd of boys to rampage to another corner.

Ukyo scowled, and then pointed. Rei turned to where the boy indicated and saw something even more ridiculous than the stampede. At the very top of them, Ranma was airborne, bouncing on top of his classmates' heads, snatching bread out of the air. He had several in his arms already, and one sticking out of his mouth. Her jaw dropped open as she witnessed her new housemate making a fool of himself.

"What's your relation to him, Hino-san?" Ukyo asked her, his tone clearly angry.

"We're childhood friends," she told him honestly, worried about his change of personality. She had never seen him like this before. In fact, he had confessed to her that school was the happiest time in his life. Rei tried to explain the whole of it, without setting him off further. "He's staying with us while his father is away on business."

"I see," Ukyo whispered, barely audible to her as several more bread calls interrupted them.

_Is he—jealous?_

"Rei!" Ranma called out from the crowd. He bounded across the cafeteria in a few strides, stopping in front of the two of them. Smiling at her, he proudly displayed his winnings in his hands. He held three large pieces of bread, one of which was open and already bitten into.

_He already ate the previous one, and started on another in such a short span?_

"Ranma," she whispered, torn between figuring out Ukyo's behavior, and her happiness at seeing the martial artist. Any friendliness she displayed towards him might set off Ukyo more.

"Hey, whatcha doin' here?" he asked, nibbling another bite of the tuna bread. "This guy giving you trouble?"

Ukyo nearly hissed a retort, assuming an aggressive posture.

"Not at all! I came to bring you lunch," she said sheepishly, realizing her arms were now empty. "But it looks like they didn't survive the fall. Kuonji-taicho saved me from getting crushed like these did." She held out the destroyed lunch boxes.

Ranma grabbed one and examined it. "Looks fine to me. Trade ya." He handed her a bag of cinnamon bread.

"Thanks," she whispered, looking down at bread. _I come to bring him lunch, and yet he provides me some, too. _She felt conflicted by it. _Always so damn fair!_

"Catch, Kuonji," he said, tossing the third bread at her archery captain.

Ukyo caught it in his right hand, and then a moment later, crushed it in his hand. "We're not friends, _Saotome-san. _Use the proper respect when you refer to me, and don't think I'll accept any pittance from you." He tossed the now-mushy seaweed bread back at Ranma.

"Hey man, what the heck did I ever do you?" Ranma demanded as he caught the bread. "I was just thanking you for saving Rei here. "

Ukyo looked altogether like a different person now, as he glared daggers at Ranma. His eyes raged as he gritted his teeth.

"I saved Rei because she's a wonderful person," he said loudly, his voice echoing across the now silent cafeteria. "Not for you!" He took a step towards Ranma, and then his hand blurred.

Ranma's response was to block the projectile that Ukyo hadtossed with the ruined seaweed bread. "Nice try. I'll overlook this, since you were nice to Rei. So back off and I'll forget it ever happened."

"Fat chance of that," Ukyo growled back. He drew something from his pocket behind his back. Rei could see something shiny from his hand's position against his back, but she couldn't make out its shape.

_It can't be a knife!_

By now, a crowd had gathered to watch what was beginning to transpire, causing Rei to get a spike of adrenalin. Two people she cared about seemed to be about ready to kill each other.

"Stop!" She yelled at them, standing in between the two. "There will be no fighting at school. Please stop this. It's totally ridiculous!" She quickly scanned that hall for a teacher, but turned up no one. _What kind of place do they run here?_

"Fine," Ranma said, backing off. "Be careful, Kuonji-_san_."

"This isn't over, Saotome!" the boy threatened, taking another step forward, which Rei blocked by pushing him back with her outstretched hand. "I'll see you after school."

Ranma did the same, forcing Rei to push both boys back to arm's length. While the martial artist felt like pushing a brick wall, there was something strange about Ukyo. She turned and looked at the boy. _Why is his chest so soft?_

* * *

Although she kept Ranma and Ukyo's conflict from turning into a full blown fight in the middle of the cafeteria, Rei only delayed the inevitable as Ukyo confronts the boy, whose father ruined her past.


	8. Chapter 8

Seven years after Ranma's father stole Ukyo's future, the boy will now have to confront the legacy of deceit that his father has left for him. As he enters the archery range, the smell of battle can either be a fresh start or the final nail in the coffin of their friendship.

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Eight

After returning from lunch with the expectation of having to spend the remaining three hours being glared at, Ranma had found himself glare-free. Ukyo had not returned to class after instigating the duel in the cafeteria, and didn't look to be returning, as the last time Ranma looked up at the clock, only five minutes remained in the sixth period.

_He better not have chickened out, _Ranma thought as he looked at the empty desk next to him. _I hate people who talk big, and then don't even show up for the fight._

The whole situation in the cafeteria perplexed him. After the last day-and-a-half of angry stares from the boy, Ranma had half-expected something like this would happen, but he had no idea why Ukyo already hated him so much. That only left the past.

_Ukyo, where do I know you from?_ he pondered in the last five minutes of class._ You were angry at me that first day of class when I took my seat for the first time, so it wasn't because I took the last cinnamon bread._ Ranma kept running through possibilities until the bell rang. He stuffed all of his stationery and books in his desk, and left it all behind so as to not lose it later.

The boys in his class were all whispering and pointing at him. The boy who sat behind Ukyo walked up to him.

"Hey, new kid," the boy said, sitting on Ukyo's desk. "Fair warning. Kuonji-taichi is going to wipe the floor with you."

"My name is Saotome Ranma of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts. What's your name?" Ranma asked, sticking his hands in his jacket.

The boy gulped, planting his feet on the ground. "Koji. Koji Shigeru."

"Koji-san, tell me, why do you think your captain is going to win?" Ranma asked, fingering a coin in his pocket.

"In the first week of school," the kid began, a little wary of Ranma, "he beat up these two third-year bullies who were picking on a bunch of us after class. He didn't even break a sweat. Took them out good."

Ranma nodded, suddenly excited for the fight. It had been a while since he had fought someone even a tenth of his skill. _This Ukyo kid might actually be a good fight._

"So you should totally give up," Koji told him, his voice gaining back a bit of his cockiness. "Just because you're dating Rei-sama, doesn't mean you're tough or anything."

"What are you talking about? And also, a man never backs down from his word," Ranma said with icy seriousness. "Not ever. Especially not over a matter of honor."

"Wow," Koji replied. "You sound just like Kuonji-taicho."

Ranma only smiled, suddenly very anxious to be out on the archery field. He left Koji there, followed by all of the boys in the class. The news must have spread, because by the time he crossed the hall to the back door to the field, most of the first years were all out there, and even some of the upperclassmen. Even some of the girls from TAS were arriving, mixing in with the boys.

As he stepped out onto the field, he noticed smoke behind gym, followed by the smell of cooking food. The aroma caught him off guard, but he wasted no time crossing the field. The closer he walked to the gym, the more he smelt something so familiar, his mouth began to water.

"It smells like... okonomiyaki," Ranma whispered after marching around the side of the gym with his procession of students. A portable grill burned hot in the middle of the archery range, filling the air with smell of crispy okonomiyaki and charcoal.

Scratching the back of his head, the boy stopped several dozen feet away from Ukyo, who was cooking on the grill. On his back, he wore the largest metal spatula that Ranma had ever seen, the head of it the length and width of four large shovels. Hidden behind that, Ranma spotted a leather bandolier, though he could not see what he wore in front of it. To each of Ukyo's sides, the boy had placed several buckets.

"Are you apologizing with food?" Ranma asked as the crowd formed around him. "You're the one that started this, you know."

Ukyo took a moment to respond, pulling something off the grill with a small spatula. After a moment with his back still turned to him, the boy flipped around. He tossed something at Ranma, who sidestepped and reached for the object, surprised to find that he had plucked a large serving of okonomiyaki out of the air.

"What's this for?" Ranma demanded, examining it.

"Payback, Ranma," Ukyo told him, his voice low. "Read it."

Further surprised, Ranma realized that Ukyo had written the words, "For the one left behind, you must die."

"You're going to pay for what you did, Ranma," Ukyo told him flatly, his anger only bubbling at the surface. From his bandolier, he pulled one of many small, metal spatulas sheathed there.

From behind Ukyo, Ranma saw Rei approaching, but kept his focus on Ukyo.

The sudden feeling of déjà vu he experienced made Ranma dizzy. This had happened before. He knew this boy. Staring at Ukyo closely, he closed most of the rest of the distance. "I know you."

"Kuonji-taicho, Ranma-kun, let's talk about this, okay?" Rei asked, walking closer to the two. "I know we can come to an understanding if we do. You're both really great guys, and—"

"Stop defending him, Hino-san," Ukyo interrupted, his eyes glaring at her. "I have to do this. You don't know how bad a person he is."

"So tell me," she pleaded, putting her hands out. "Don't hurt each other, please."

Suddenly, Ranma recalled the memory of the gutsy little boy that he had used to play with during primary school. He looked down at the food in his hands and began to eat it, until it was gone. After one bite of the Japanese pizza, Ranma had recalled his name. "Okonomiyaki Ucchan! Buddy! How have you been?!"

Suddenly jumping back and flipping over the grill, Ukyo squeezed something into it, which caused a fireball to explode towards Ranma, causing Rei to scream. A hot wave of air singed him as he tumbled underneath it, around to the back of the grill. The crowd started going crazy, too, shouting out for Ukyo to beat him up.

"It's been forever since I last saw you!" Ranma exclaimed, ignoring the attack and everyone else. "Wow, I never thought I'd meet two childhood friends in the same week. This is like Christmas for me."

Ukyo's face showed his distress as he backed away, throwing a handful of spatula projectiles at the dark-haired martial artist. Ranma calculated their target and arched back to the side, dodging the lot of them.

"Me, too, Ranma!" Ukyo told him, drawing his giant spatula from his back. "Now that you're here, I can reverse everything and get my honor back after beating you so badly, no one will ever recognize you!"

"Come on, man," Ranma said, putting out his hands. "What'd we ever do to you? I still remember you, because you were my first real friend."

"Friends?!" Ukyou yelled, swinging his spatula at him with full force, hitting only air as Ranma ducked underneath. "I've been poverty-ridden, abused and shamed because you and your father. Friends don't ruin each other's lives!"

"Being a little dramatic, aren't you?" Ranma asked. "I was six the last time I saw you. What could we have possibly done that you're still mad about now?"

Ukyo screamed in frustration, swiping at him twice more in rapid succession. The first one was weak, and Ranma slapped it aside, but the second came back at him twice as fast. It didn't appear to be a feint, but defeating Ukyo's slopping attacks caused the boy to attack harder immediately afterwards. Ranma didn't give him a chance, slipping inside the attack, causing his opponent to only connect with the middle of the handle with minimal force.

"Ucchan, bygones?" Ranma said with a smile.

"How dare you insult me like this, Ranma!" Ukyo yelled. "Fight back, or I'll kill you!" He then pulled out a bag from inside of his jacket. "Flour bomb!"

Ranma managed to catch the projectile, but it exploded in a cloud of white powder. His face was covered with it, and he was effectively blinded by the sudden sneak attack.

"Of all the dirty tricks," he muttered, listening for attacks. However, he didn't have time, as another wave of mini-spatulas flew at him. He took one in the arm before escaping the cloud, and then rubbed his eyes. His vision blurred as he looked for Ukyo.

"Ranma, look out!" Rei's voice sounded absolutely terrified.

Spotting the flat end of the giant spatula racing towards him, Ranma hopped back, in time for the spatula to barely miss him. Ukyo extended himself too far, leaving himself open, so Ranma used the time to jump on top of his opponent's weapon.

Ukyo lost hold of the unbalanced spatula and fell forward in his attempt to not lose grip. Ranma took the opportunity to slam the boy directly in the center of his chest with his open palm. Ukyo went flying, twisting in the air in an attempt to regain control, but failed and landed on his side in the grass. Rolling over several times, he halted when he put his arms out.

"I can do this all day, Ucchan," Ranma bragged to his childhood friend. "Give up and tell me why you're being such an a-hole."

"Screw you, _Ranchan. _You don't have a right to use that name." Ukyo pushed himself up, and then brushed himself off. "Tell me what you remember about the last time you saw me when we were kids. Think real hard, idiot."

Rei walked up to Ranma's side right then, putting her hand on his shoulder. "What's he talking about?"

Ranma shrugged at Rei. "I don't have to think about it that hard. Last time I saw him was when I was leaving. I was sitting on the back of a cart, waving goodbye. Ucchan was running after us, crying."

"So your dad owned a cart all of a sudden?" Ukyo demanded. "Use that noodle you call a brain."

"No, it was..." Ranma trailed off, furrowing his brow. "Uh, why was pops driving your cart?"

A gasp escaped Rei's mouth as she dropped her hand of Ranma's shoulder. "He stole Kuonji-taicho's cart? _That's_ what happened?"

"That's one part of it," Ukyo said, drawing two more spatulas from his bandolier. Only two remained after that. "You left us without a way to make money, without even honoring your bargain. When I came back home, my dad wouldn't even talk to me. He blamed me for everything."

"Damn it, pops," Ranma growled, kicking the dirt. "Listen, Ucchan. I'm really sorry about that. I didn't know. I was just six, like you."

"Ranma's right," Rei said. "Even if his father did do it, why take it out on him?"

There was conflict in Ukyo's eyes, but he was undeterred. "He just mooches off people, makes you fall in love, and then eventually runs out. I can see that's already what he's starting with you! He's no better than his father!"

"Hey, I'm nothing like him!" Ranma didn't really understand the protest against him, but he was not going to be compared to his old man in anything but martial skill.

Rei seemed to get something completely different out of it. "Wait, Kuonji-taicho! I'm not... you know. We're just friends, and he's not mooching off us. He's repaying us by fixing things and helping me with my chores."

It didn't seem to be enough, as Ukyo pursued the attack further, lashing out with hand-to-hand, using his spatulas to make each swing dangerous. Ranma's skill far exceeded Ukyo's, allowing him to get ahead of each attack, deflect it and do some quick pressure point attacks on his opponent. Each one struck its target.

Fatigue was beginning to show in Ukyo's face as he pulled back to the grill, grabbing one of the buckets he had placed by it earlier. He lifted it with both hands. Ranma realized he had forgotten to look inside the buckets while he was next to them at the start of the fight.

"Rei, I won't hurt him, so just go back to the crowd," he told her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

She nodded, returning to the students in the ring around the two fighters. By that point, most of the people cheering for Ukyo to beat Ranma up were quiet.

Ranma walked over to Ukyo's primary weapon, putting his foot underneath the handle of the weapon. He kicked it up, and then lifted it with one hand. The weight of the weapon was pretty significant. _He has to have trained with this thing for years to throw it around like he did before._

"Ucchan," he called at the boy. "Catch!"

Ukyo turned from the grill, having been holding the bucket over it. Ranma threw the giant spatula, spearing the ground in front of his opponent.

"You'll need that if you want to have a chance to beat me," Ranma told him honestly.

"You're going to regret that," Ukyo replied, shifting the bucket to his left hand. "Catch this!"

Wary of another flour bomb, Ranma dodged hard to his right, springing only far enough to dodge out of the way of a single bandolier spatula. However, Ukyo seemed to anticipate that, lobbing the bucket at him immediately after. Ranma couldn't dodge in time, so he punched the projectile with his right fist, which broke directly through the plastic outer layer. Despite destroying the container, his hand met something hard and wet. It felt as if he had punched sludge.

"Damn it, Ucchan! What the heck is this?"

"How's the batter, Ranchan?" his opponent taunted, flashing a grin. "I mixed it with rubber cement."

True to his word, Ukyo's batter encased Ranma's fist like a giant, bucket-shaped cast. He tried to shake it off, but it only weighed down his right arm. He dared not touch it, lest risk losing two hands to it.

Not wasting the advantage, Ukyo tossed another bag at him. Ranma couldn't dodge the second attack either, but blocked it with his rubber-cement-encased hand. It didn't help tremendously, as when the bag burst, it exploded with small golden flakes, each of which individually began to burst like fire-crackers.

"Ouch!" Ranma cried, covering his face with his left hand.

"Delicious Tempura flakes mixed with gunpowder," Ukyo informed Ranma, who began attempting to swat away the cloud that was burning him. He held his breath as he tried to find his way out of it, but ended up catching Ukyo's last spatula in the cheek, cutting him.

"That's it!" Ranma yelled, stepping out of the range of the cloud. He inhaled a huge breath and began spit out tempura flakes. "I was going easy on you, because we were childhood friends and all, but now I'm pissed off."

"Bring it," Ukyo told him, hefting her two-handed weapon in her hands.

Ranma lifted his right hand up into the air and then slammed it into the ground, causing the weak cast to shatter off him as though it had never been there. He took in a quick breath, and then charged Ukyo, who then lifted the second bucket onto his spatula.

"Same trick won't work twice," Ranma shouted, moving in close, ready to dodge the bucket this time.

Ukyo smiled, knocking the bucket straight up. Ranma moved horizontally to dodge the attack that never came, instead watching as Ukyo swung his spatula into the bottom of the bucket, causing its contents to fly out in front of him at every angle. There was no way to dodge the giant, rope-sized yakisoba noodles that entangled his arms and legs.

Ranma struggled against the noodles, but could barely move. As he began to free one arm, Ranma watched as Ukyo reached to draw another spatula from his bandolier, finding it empty. His opponent instead charged with his battle spatula, swinging it horizontally towards Ranma's chest. Hopping back just far enough, Ranma positioned the yakisoba noodles encircling his chest under the blade, cutting himself free.

Pressing the attack, Ukyo lifted his battle spatula above his head, preparing a heavy strike. However, Ranma read the maximum length of the attack, and flipped backwards, causing the swing to cut all of the noodles tangling his legs without actually touching him.

"What?!" Ukyo shouted, retreating back a step.

Ranma wasted no time, barreling into the boy before he had a chance to pull out another weapon. He struck Ukyo twice across the ribs before he threw down a second flour bomb, encasing them both in white powder. However, this time Ranma ignored it, and went in straight for the knockout, catching Ukyo's leg as he tried to jump away.

"You're not going anywhere!" he yelled at the boy, slamming him to the ground. As Ukyo was winded by the attack, Ranma dislodged the battle spatula from his hands. He then bent it, end to end, and cast it aside.

Ranma walked over to the boy, but was interrupted by Rei, who pulled him back.

"He's down, Ranma," she said, wrapping her arms around his midriff. "Just let him go."

The sudden embrace confused him as stood over Ukyo, who was just pushing himself back up, if a bit slowly. He stopped, resting on his knees, bowing his head in defeat.

"Fine," he told her, suddenly more conscious of the hands clasped over his stomach than his opponent. "Ucchan, this is over. I'm sorry my pops ruined your life and all, but you lost."

"I... can't believe... I lost," the defeated boy whispered, tears leaking down his face. "All this time, training, fighting, searching, and he beats me, barely taking a scratch? What was the point?"

Ranma kept silent as Rei released him and walked over to Ukyo. She knelt down and put her arm around his shoulder in support. Without thinking, Ranma moved to the other side of the boy, and the both helped him up.

"Ranchan?" The words left Ukyo without anger or sarcasm.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about this," Ukyo said as the two helped him to the archery clubhouse. The crowd began to depart, although some remained to investigate the grill and Ukyo's various and unusual weaponry.

"You did what you had to," Ranma conceded, helping Rei set him down inside the indoor archery range, which looked surprisingly similar to a dojo. "I don't blame you for wanting revenge, and won't stop you if you go up against my pops. Just if you plan to do it, keep in mind he's better than I am."

Ukyo didn't reply as they set him on the bench just outside the boys' locker room.

"Ranma, go in there and get his spare clothes from his locker," Rei told him. "He's covered in grass stains and there are tears in his pants."

Diligently, Ranma found Ukyo's locker by the name tag and pulled out a spare set of clothes.

"Why don't you help him get dressed while I wait out here?" Rei suggested.

"I'm fine!" Ukyo nearly shouted, startling both of them. "I mean, I can do it." Ukyo grabbed his clothes from Ranma, and went into the bathroom.

"He's shy," Rei told him. "He always dresses in the bathroom. I thought he'd be more comfortable with a childhood friend than club members."

"You mean, you thought he'd be cool dressing in front of the guy who just beat him up, showing off all the bruises and cuts that said guy just caused?" Ranma eyed her with amusement.

"Oh, right," she said, and then stuck her tongue out at him.

_Maturity just disappears in front of faulty girl_-_logic, _Ranma thought with a smile. "Think he'll be okay?"

"Ukyo's tough," Rei told him, her reply quick. Her voice had the ring of being sure of herself. "He's been through a lot. He told me about his training, and his father before. After your dad took his cart, his life really did go bad for a long time. He's only just really started adjusting since he started at this school. I think he blames himself, somehow."

"For my pops stealing his dad's cart?" Ranma incredulously asked. "Only person who can answer to that is the old man. Man, I really didn't want to believe it, pops screwing over Ucchan like that."

Ukyo exited the bathroom then, wearing his gym uniform. He looked a bit bashful, and didn't make eye contact with Ranma or Rei.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're good, Ucchan," Ranma said, trying to smile. He still felt too bad about his dad's past behavior.

"I..." he began, looking up at Ranma. "Maybe I misjudged you, Ranchan. I didn't mean to insult you either, Hino-san. I mean, I heard the rumors about you dating and living together, and just assumed..."

"Wait, what?" Rei asked loudly. Ranma shared the sentiment, shouting, "Who said that?"

Ukyo put her hands up in apology. "I'm sorry I said it, but that's what everyone's been saying. All the guys who idolize you wanted me to kill Ranma."

Rei shook her head. "That doesn't matter. It bothers me that they think so little of me, but let's not make a big fuss."

_Dating Rei?_ Ranma thought, contemplating it. _That type of rumor has to be harder for girls. I better keep some distance to help her out. I can't burden her like that. _He wondered about ways to accomplish it better.

Rei and Ukyo had begun to chat about something else without Ranma realizing it.

"What?" he asked, hoping the question would serve to help him catch up.

"See?" Rei said with a laugh.

"I see your point," Ukyo told her, and laughed himself. "Ranchan, don't worry, hun. I'll set the buzzards straight."

Somehow, despite fighting less than ten minutes ago, the three seemed like fast friends to Ranma, who rarely had any, let alone two childhood friends.

_It really is kind of like Christmas,_ he thought. _I get a good fight, a__nd two new friends. This place is pretty interesting so far. How can it get any crazier than this, though?_

* * *

Although she stopped Ranma and Ukyo's conflict from turning into a full-blown cafeteria fight, Rei only delayed the inevitable duel between the two. Next chapter, Ranma battles Ukyo in My Love's Flame.


	9. Chapter 9

Sometimes time is all that will heal an old wound, but for Kuonji Ukyo, the girl who sacrificed everything for the sake of revenge, sometimes nothing short of forgiveness can mend it. As she looks inward, she has to either reconcile that revenge is not possible in order to live, or continue down that path toward self-destruction.

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Nine

_What was the point?_ was the only thought going through Ukyo's mind as she sat on the toilet of the private restroom in the archery clubhouse. She stared at her callused hands, having moments ago removed her ripped school jacket and stained shirt that she couldn't afford to repair. Fumbling with the buttons of her slacks, she clenched her teeth at the soreness in her hands from gripping her battle spatula, and having it slapped out of her grasp several times.

"Get it out of your head," she told herself, managing the buttons, and then slipped out of her slacks. Her thighs and knees weren't as badly bruised as her chest. There were multiple, ugly purple blotches on her pale skin. She stared at the particularly dark hand print on her chest directly between her breasts. Just removing the bandages from that spot had caused her eyes to tear up with pain.

_What was the point of my life?_ her mind insistently asked. _You gave up your gender, your childhood, and your dreams to get revenge. What's the point of any of it?_

Next to naked in just her boxers, she looked at the neat pile that her gym clothes made on the sink counter. Ranma had handed it to her as if he was one of her friends, helping her patch up after the big fight, and not the guy who actually did the beating. Somehow, despite how much she had hated him about ten minutes ago, it didn't feel awkward at all, as if she had come face to face with the little six-year-old Ranma who played with her every day after school.

She stared at herself in the mirror a moment longer, unable to reconcile the boy she had been just three days ago, before Ranma entered her classroom, with the topless, ugly girl staring at her in the mirror. Months ago, when she had started attending SAAS, life had suddenly begun for her. She had taken each day as a new miracle, bullies and all. The male, thirteen-year-old Kuonji Ukyo who these students knew was a school legend, a hero of the downtrodden, a star second baseman for the school's team, and the current captain of the school's archery club was who she wanted to be.

Now, she would be thirteen-year-old Kuonji Ukyo, a cross-dressing nobody from nowhere, a failure like her father, a man who unwisely gave his cart to a wandering martial artist as dowry for the girl he hardly wanted in the first place. She saw how her father had looked at six-year-old Ranma, and on some level knew that the man wished that he'd had such a strong son as Saotome Genma. _Was this all just about jealousy?_

She had always known that her father had tried to give her away at six years of age, but that had been a side note in the index of her life, not the headline. _It was supposed to be "Revenge" but now it's just "Pathetic."_

Grabbing the gym shirt, she gingerly slipped her sore arms into it, and then pushed her head through. The soft cloth hurt her bruises, but not as much as her bandages had when she had removed them. She then pushed her legs through her gym shorts and stared at herself again. Luckily, her shirt was baggy enough to hide her small breasts, but it didn't matter much now.

_In a few minutes, Ranma is going to out you, and then you are done. You will be expelled, which will earn you nothing but more shame to add to the pile, and then you will have nothing, not even a reason to wake up tomorrow._

Ukyo collected her bandages, wrapped them around her hand, and then stuffed them into the pocket of her jacket. She tried to put her jacket on, but the weight of it made her ribs hurt.

"Jackass probably broke a few ribs," she whispered, lifting her shirt to check them one more time. The few hits he had connected to them particularly began to sting now that she was thinking about them.

Neatly folding the rest of her clothes, she then unlocked the restroom door and walked out. Ranma and Rei were talking; she walked right in on their conversation. Ranma was speaking. "...who can answer to that is the old man. Man, I really didn't want to believe it, pops screwing over Ucchan like that."

Hearing his nickname for her sent a wave of _something_ through her chest, like electricity, and butterflies and nausea. She stared between the two until they noticed her. Ranma's eyes ran down her body, catching notice of the obvious bruising on her arms and legs. She dropped her head, warmth rising from her chest into her face.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're good, Ucchan," Ranma told her with a crooked smile.

_What the heck is wrong with me? s_he demanded of herself, but only the weakness in her knees had any knew then that he would not rat her out. He wouldn't tell the one secret that could ruin her far worse than her father had when she had left him behind. The confusing feelings ran up and down her.

"I..." She tried to say something, but nothing came out for a moment until she could bring her head up. Looking into Ranma's eyes for a moment, she instantly forgave him, feeling relief like she had never experienced before. It felt like her soul had been through a rainstorm and finally had a day in the sun to dry off. She saw the look in his eyes, and knew he wouldn't tell anyone about hiding her gender.

"Maybe I misjudged you, Ranchan," she told him, holding his gaze for a moment. She then turned to the beautiful, raven-haired girl next to him. "I didn't mean to insult you either, Hino-san. I mean, I heard the rumors about the two of you dating and living together, and just assumed..."

She left the part out where the jealous boys who were not a part of the core of her fan club called Rei a 'loose woman.' They wouldn't say it again, as Ukyo had taught them why no one messes with friends of Kuonji Ukyo. Rei had been nothing but a wonderful friend to her. They had shared so much. Ukyo always felt the need to downplay their friendship, but when Ranma had stood in the way of that, it felt crushing.

"Wait, what?" Rei asked, relatively clueless to the rumors, fan clubs and all the other things that revolved around her in this school. She had confessed to receiving enough love letters to fill a shoe box this year, but didn't truly know the depths of the idiocy to which the boys of SASS were privy. "Who said that?"

_Who didn't say it? _she wondered, and then shrugged, throwing her hands up. "I'm sorry I said it, but that's what everyone's been saying. All the guys who idolize you wanted me to kill Ranma." Half the idiots from Rei's fan club had had been hounding Ukyo since the instant she had arrived at school in the morning.

Rei opened her mouth as if to say, "Oh," and then shook her head. "That doesn't matter. It bothers me that they think so little of me, but let's not make a big fuss about it. Let them talk for all I care."

Ukyo cracked a smile at the girl. When it came to those idiots, she was thankfully aloof.

"Hino-san," she began, but Rei lifted her hand.

"Please, call me Rei, Ukyo-kun," the girl told her, taking the torn clothes from Ukyo's hands. "I'll mend your uniform tonight, if you come with me to the temple."

"Rei-san," she began again, feeling better about everything already. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You don't," Rei replied, smiling at her. "We've been through a lot together this year.

"Hey look," Rei whispered as she walked closer to Ukyo. "Ranma's in his own little world. He's probably deep in thought about how to beat up every guy who said anything bad about me."

As if hearing his name, Ranma snapped out of his reverie. "What?" he asked, looking between the two.

"See?" Rei said, sharing her laughter with the room. It sounded magical to Ukyo's ears.

"I see your point," Ukyo replied. She winked at the clueless martial artist. "Ranchan, don't worry, hun. I'll set the buzzards straight." _Or they'll regret being born._

It was in the moment that he looked at her with his beautiful blue eyes, stopping on her for longer than he had before, that she realized why her heart was beating this way. He looked just as happy to be on friendly terms with her, as she had with him. The three of them felt like friends for some weird and mysterious reason.

"I'm so, so, so glad that you two made up," Rei said, gently putting her arm around both of her friends. "You don't know how sick it made me feel since lunch."

"I am, too," Ukyo told Rei, just after realizing that she had been smiling for a solid minute now. It felt foreign to her face, but the more she did it, the more it reached into her and flicked away the darkness that had once fueled her. Rei reacted to her words by pulling them in closer. Ukyo had to hold out her hand to keep from bumping into Ranma, causing her to gently place her hand on his abdomen. She felt her face light on fire at the contact.

"Ah, come on with the mushy stuff," Ranma said, his cheeks showing signs of color, too. He turned his eyes away, obviously unused to such attention.

Rei released them, falling back a step, her face just as pink as Ranma's. Ranma turned around and walked forward a few steps, before turning back. Rei looked between the two of them, smiling at him and returning the feeling that Ukyo felt.

"So, uh, that mean we're cool, Ucchan?" Ranma asked, recovered from the half-embrace.

Ten minutes later, after Ranma had returned the grill to its hiding spot behind the archery range, and collected all of Ukyo's weapons, the three of them were walking towards the Hikawa Shrine. It felt weird to Ukyo, who had followed the two of them before, now standing in between the two residents of the shrine on Cherry Hill.

"I swear you'll be the death of me, Ranma," Rei told the boy as he walked across the fence, twirling Ukyo's battle spatula in one hand.

When Rei had asked him to carry Ukyo's weapons, he took that to mean he should wear her bandolier full of shuriken spatulas and toss them at everything that could be considered a target, mostly at posters and ads posted on bulletin boards and power poles. To his credit, the boy had asked Ukyo for permission first. His perfect accuracy was just as remarkable as his ability to handle the heavy two-handed weapon that had taken years for her to even swing effectively.

Ranma turned and stuck his tongue out at Rei, and she returned the gesture. They held that for a while, but it didn't stop Ranma for skewering an Aino Minako concert poster on a telephone pole down the street with throwing spatulas. Ukyo's jaw dropped, as his pinpoint accuracy struck the idol in her eyes and mouth perfectly, and she did not even see him look at it first.

"You are kind of a freak, Ranchan," she told him honestly as she walked her bike after. The comment broke the escalating stare down that Rei and Ranma had been engaged in.

"What 'cha mean?" he asked, and then jumped down from the eight-foot-tall wall that he had been walking on. He plucked the shuriken spatulas from Aino-san's face, and then replaced them in the bandolier.

"Does he really need to narrow it down?" Rei teased, making a face at him that boggled Ukyo's mind. She'd never seen the girl lose her iron-clad serious composure before, and never act this silly. She was seeing a side of Rei that apparently no one but Ranma had before.

_What is it about you, Ranchan? _Ukyo thought as she followed the pair across Juuban. _How do you break down even Hino-san's seriousness? And how did you disarm__ me to the point I don't even want revenge anymore?_

Ranma laughed out loud, nearly dropping the giant two-handed battle spatula he had resting over his shoulders, rather than placing it in the sheath on the back of the bandolier. It was infectious, making even Ukyo giggle back at him.

"I win," Rei said confidently, as if there had really been a competition going on.

"I'll get you next time," Ranma promised just as seriously through his smile.

"You're a freak for being so good with my weapons already," Ukyo explained, stopping as they bickered.

Ranma put his free hand to his chin, considering that. "I'll take that as a complement then."

Much of the remaining trip to the shrine on the top of Cherry Hill continued the same way, with Ranma and Rei playing around, or Rei ignoring him, and Ranma doing his best to make her acknowledge him. With every minute that passed, she felt fonder of the duo. _Their friendship is as natural as breathing to them. They just do whatever they want without a care in the world._ Ukyo felt immensely jealous watching them.

They arrived at the gates quicker than seemed possible. Rei slowed as she walked and entered the compound first. Ukyo followed her, pushing her bike up the steps for a moment, before Ranma walked up to it and lifted it over his head.

"Hey!" Ukyo said, noticing he had sheathed the battle spatula in order to lift the bike with both hands.

"Invalids don't get to do any lifting," he told her, and then stuck his tongue out at her.

Ukyo's heart skipped a beat as she stared at his face. The casual playfulness he had shared with Rei was now directed at her. The unexpected feeling of joy that settled in gave her goosebumps, and surprised her so much that she didn't even have a response for him. Luckily for Ukyo, Rei broke the overwhelmingly embarrassing moment.

"Hey, I have to run to go help grandfather with the visitors to the shrine," Rei told him. She waved at the two of them. "Ranma, take Ukyo-kun up to the house. I'll be by later when the temple closes. Play nice, okay?"

There were a lot of people hanging about the temple grounds, purchasing charms from the old man near the shrine. At least fifteen primary school students from the local school that they had passed on the way to the temple were milling about and playing in the yard, while the rest purchased and hung wishes on the trees, or bought charms to hang from their book bags to grant them luck or beauty. A few adults and teenagers walked about as well, though they seemed to be just waiting in the yard.

"Let's go, Ucchan," Ranma said, centering the bicycle in front of him.

"Alright," she replied, following him up the steps into the hilltop shrine's grounds. They walked up to the shrine past all the people ringing the bell and donating to the gods.

Once they reached the garden along the side of the shrine, Ranma suddenly stopped, as if frozen in his step. Ukyo walked around him to see what he was staring at. A schoolgirl in the local public junior high school seifuku sat on a bench next to the path that lead through the vegetable garden to the apartments behind the shrine. She looked to be the same age as the two of them, but was remarkable for the ball cap she wore low over her face as she read a book in the natural light of the midday sun.

"What's wrong, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked, looking between him and the girl on the bench, who didn't even seem to notice the two of them.

"N-n-nothing!" Ranma exclaimed loudly, and then turned around. He then walked as quickly as he could the other direction back around the temple.

The girl looked up at Ukyo after Ranma's loud rebuttal, causing a lock of long blonde hair to spill down onto her shoulder. Ukyo furrowed her brow as she turned her head to watch Ranma disappear around the temple, walking about as fast as he could.

"Hi there," the girl said. Ukyo turned back to focus on the girl, who had pushed up her hat to stare at Ukyo. As if they had met before, she expected the girl's name to come to her. The feeling intensified as the girl closed her magazine, and then began to stand. Her long blue skirt fell to her knees as she rose.

"Hi," Ukyo replied, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, but do I know you? You look really familiar to me."

The girl shook her head, loosing the rest of her blond hair. It fell down her back to her waist, curling at the ends. "No, I'd totally remember you." Ukyo could nearly feel her eyes running up her body up from her bare legs. The girl beamed a friendly smile. "What's your name?"

"Kuonji Ukyo," she said, picturing herself from the other girl's point of view: a short-haired boy in gym shorts and a loose shirt one size too big. She felt a bit anxious as the girl approached her. The price of dressing like a boy with short hair was female attention.

"How come you're in your gym clothes?" she asked, adjusting the red scarf tied to the blouse of her white, short-sleeved seifuku.

_My former fianc__é__ beat me up, ripping up my uniform,_ she thought wryly. "My friend who lives here is going to mend my school uniform."

"I don't recognize it," she said appreciatively. "Where do you go to school?"

Ukyo uncomfortably shifted her stance. "Saint Agnes of Assisi School." The girl made an expression as though she had just heard the Martian language for the first time. "We call it SAAS."

"Ooooh, I've heard of that place," she told him, her voice rising an octave in excitement. "It's supposed to be the most rowdy school in the whole ward. Supposedly, there are fights every lunch, and teachers let it happen."

_You don't know the half of it. _"It lives up to that reputation." Keeping bullies from taking over the yard was what Ukyo spent half the time at school doing. Until Ranma, she had been undefeated, taking out students even two grades higher.

"Did you get in a fight? Is that how your uniform got torn up?" The girl's nonstop inquiries were beginning to feel like a game of Twenty Questions.

"Actually, yes," Ukyo admitted.

"Really?" the girl quickly replied, her eyes lighting up.

Suddenly, a beeping noise came from the blond girl's purse back on the bench. "Oh, I'm sorry. Please, excuse me." She turned around and reached a hand into her purse and pulled out a compact. She opened it for a moment, and then quickly shut it. "Looks like I have to go." She put her compact back into her purse, and then picked it up. "Do you happen to know where the fortune-teller is here? I was told there's one that works here who can really tell you the future."

"You're looking for Hino-san," Ukyo said, pointing to the front of the shrine. "She's the miko at the shrine selling charms."

"Oh, okay! Thanks! It was nice to meet you, Kuonji-san!" She bowed her head, and then skipped away around the back of the shrine.

"It was nice meeting you, too..." Ukyo said as she realized the girl had never said her name. _Was the compact some__ kind of alarm clock?_ "What a weird girl."

She made her way to the front of the shrine, where she did indeed find Rei and her grandfather talking to visitors and performing blessings and rituals. She looked around for Ranma, but didn't see him anywhere, and gave up after a moment.

_I guess I'll check the apartments, _she relented, turning back the way she had come. Walking through the garden past the empty bench, she saw that the girl had left her magazine. Ukyo left it there in case she went back to look for it later.

The path led into the back through the trees where she found the shrine complex's apartment structure. She had never actually seen it before, but Rei had told her that in its time, it had housed up to eight priests, priestesses and their families. The Hikawa shrine had been in Rei's family since it had been founded, although now only she and her grandfather were left to take care of it. When asked if she would take her grandfather's place after his death, Rei had never given an answer.

Walking up to the door, Ukyo knocked, hoping that Ranma had already entered. When no one responded, she tried the door, but it was locked.

"Figures," she whispered, looking around. The garden and numerous trees lent a large amount of privacy to the house, as the majority of visitors confined themselves to the shrine and the area leading up to it where all the trees for hanging prayers and wishes resided.

Ukyo caught some movement across the yard. Squinting her eyes, she scanned the garden. A moment later, she saw it was Ranma, running swiftly across the garden. He leaped over a planter, and then maneuvered through the trees and nearly slammed into her. She dodged as he quickly opened the door into the house.

"Hurry, get in!" he exclaimed, winded. Ranma grabbed her by the shoulder, nearly ripping her shirt in the process. Once he had dragged her fully into the house, he slammed the door shut and slid to the floor, panting.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" she asked, glaring down at him. He turned his head up to look at her, but his face was pale, and he looked panicked. He was missing several of the shuriken spatulas, and he had arrived without her bike. _Did he get in a fight?_

"Don't ask," he said in between gasping for breath.

She knelt down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Ranchan. I'm here."

He nodded, and looked up at her with a grin that was all show, but he did look somewhat better. "Thanks, buddy."

"So, what'd you do with my bike?" she asked after he had calmed down.

"It's on the south side of the garden, where I left it," he said, his eyes telling her not to ask more.

"Okay, I'll get it later." She stood and offered her hand to help him up. He accepted, and she felt him put some of his weight on her arm.

He took her to the living room, where he left to use the restroom. While he was out, she took the time to look around. The hall led into the area where the dormitories were, and she quickly found Rei's room. It looked exactly as she had imagined it would, walls covered in posters, shelves filled with manga, everything arranged in alphabetical order like a bookstore. Rei had neatly made her bed, probably had every morning since she was little. She had decorated her desk with pictures of her family, and some of her friends.

Ukyo walked closer and picked up a picture that she had not remembered being taken. In it, she, Rei and two other members of the Archery club had gone to a cafe to celebrate Ukyo's rise to captain of the archery club. She smiled at the memory, and then set the picture down. She browsed through the rest of them, but didn't see any of Ranma.

A minute later, she left Rei's room for the one across the hall. Inside were a futon, a backpack, some clothes folded and placed on the ground, and a few books piled on top of each other. Ukyo had been in a couple of different boy's rooms, but none had been as vacant as Ranma's was.

"Ah, you found my room," Ranma said, surprising Ukyo, who took in a deep breath at the sudden appearance of her former fiancé and former enemy.

"It looks depressing," she told him, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Ah, now you're getting it," he replied with a grin. "Stick-in-the-mud Ukyo is gone, long live Ucchan!"

The rush of blood to her cheeks gave away her true feelings, but all she could say was: "Shut up!"

* * *

Ukyo walks a new path alongside her former fiancé and her best friend, but how long will she be able to fool them into believing she is a boy? Next chapter, the mysterious and lovely stranger shows her side of the story.


	10. Chapter 10

For the girl who portrays a lovely singer by day, and survives as a crime fighter by night, going one day without too much excitement is rare. Recently returned from a nation wide concert, the idol enters the Hikawa Shrine, seeking her true destiny and that of her princess.

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Ten

On a particularly lovely Tuesday afternoon, a schoolgirl in a blue and white seifuku slowly walked up Cherry Hill towards the shrine at the top of it. The sensitive skin on her lithe legs chafed against the blue fabric over her newly-purchased seifuku skirt with each step up the hill. The girl's long, straw-colored hair, which she had tied in a loose knot, only thwarted gravity due to the blue baseball cap she wore over it. She carried a modest, blue bowtie handbag slung over her left shoulder, and a pop culture magazine rolled up in her right hand.

She arrived at the top of the stairs before the gates of the Hikawa Shrine a bit winded after the trek up the stairs from the street below. The air above the suburb was cooler due to the southern wind that blew over it, bringing with it the sounds of birds, most noticeably a pair of ravens staring down at her from their perch atop the sign above the gate. She stared at them curiously as she walked under an archway before the entrance to the temple.

Pausing halfway between the gates and the top of the stairs, she gazed into the shrine's courtyard. It looked like any other, a small, but well-kept Shinto temple with trees, gardens and a general abundance of nature around the gravel paths leading up to and around the shrine's main structure. Inside, an elderly priest performed a ritual for a handful of old women who formed a half-circle around him.

The girl briefly remembered coming here as a child with her parents on Tanabata to scrawl wishes on paper to hang on trees, and each New Year to watch the one hundred and eight ringings of the shrine's bell at midnight to wash away their sins. She had believed as a child that she would reach the stars, and that she would meet a valiant hero, who would sweep her off her feet. Her juvenile mind saw images in her dreams that may have very well been images from her past life.

_When all of my dreams __have already come true, what's left?_ she thought wistfully, as she pushed a wisp of blond hair that fell out from under her cap out of her eyes.

Lost in thought, she only noticed the rabble of primary school children run past her when they shouted after running past the gates. Two boys sprinted past her on either side, laughing and yelling, followed by a girl chasing them. She smiled after them, when suddenly she felt a fourth one smack directly into her backside, causing her to drop her magazine in surprise.

"Ouch!" the boy behind her cried out. As he began to pick himself off the pavement, the girl turned to look at him. Between his red backpack, his messy blond hair sticking up everywhere, and his diminutive height, he looked all of nine or ten years of age, at best. His backpack had fallen in the collision, causing it to spill open. "Watch it, lady!"

"Whatever, kid," she said, kneeling down to collect the boy's possessions. She picked up a few manga, one schoolbook and an item that caused her to stare at it speechlessly.

"Hey, don't touch that!" he exclaimed, attempting to take his backpack from her. Upon seeing that she was holding what might have well been his prized possession, he tried to snatch it from her.

"What is this?" she asked him, curious if he knew the significance of a very close replica of her Sailor V mask.

"Sailor V punishes thieves!" he told the genuine article without knowing it.

Minako Aino stood up, towering over him. She was about a head taller than the prepubescent boy, so she used her extra height to look menacing, placing her hands on her hips and glaring down at him. "I'll take that as an apology. Watch where you're running next time, kid."

She handed him the mask, which he grabbed as quickly as he could, stuffing it into his backpack. Rather than showing respect, the boy suddenly bent down and grabbed the end of her skirt. One step ahead of him, she pulled back with a quick step backward, pushing away his hand before he had a chance to flip it.

"Sailor V doesn't like skirt flippers either," she warned him. The boy's eyes widened, locking onto something behind her. As he began to scamper away, she yelled at his back, "You better run!"

"Trouble with the locals?" a small male voice asked from behind her. Despite his sneakiness, Minako didn't jump from the unexpected contact with her mentor.

"Quiet, Artemis," she told him, turning around to face him. "If any of them hear you, you'll be the one having trouble with the locals."

"We're the only ones in like thirty yards," he whined, walking around to face her. The white cat with the half-moon symbol on his forehead had a small body, but had enough attitude to fill a dozen little boys. "You're not still mad about the whole singing contest thing, are you?"

"Mad about entering, or _winning?_" she quipped, turning her halfhearted glare onto Artemis. "You have it easy here, waiting for me while my agent sends me all over Japan to sing at concerts and not completing my mission."

"I already said I'm not going to apologize for you winning the idol contest," he told her seriously, walking over to her magazine. He pushed it with his paw. "Entering was your duty as a soldier of justice. You only won because you _wanted _to win_, _and took the singing part too seriously."

"You're supposed to look out for me," she whined, bending over to pick up her magazine up, causing her baseball cap to fall off her head, in turn causing her blond hair to spill onto her shoulders and down her back. "I didn't know being an idol would be this _bad_. At least Sailor V has a secret identity."

"Hey, it's not like I knew it was going to suck this bad, either," Artemis complained, as Minako picked up her cap.

"If entering the contest had even mattered, maybe I wouldn't be so mad about it still." She stuck her tongue out at the cat, who rolled his eyes. "You have to reach the finals to uncover the Dark agent, he says. Maybe beating her at her own game will uncover her evil secret identity, he says."

"Hey, it's been tough identifying them since we lost contact with the Boss. Who could have known it was the host that was causing all of the girls to lose their energy?"

Five months ago, she had used her real name to pose as a wannabe idol for a national televised contest, since her disguise powers couldn't conjure up the proper identification to beat the show's rigorous background check process. The show had been rescheduled twice already due to contestants mysteriously falling unconscious and going into comas. The Boss' last instructions had been to go there to investigate and shut down any agents of the Dark Kingdom.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," she told him.

"Alright," he replied, sitting by her foot. "I'll change the subject, then. Why are reading about yourself in that rag, anyway? It'll just blow your cover right away if anyone sees the cover with your face in view."

"This is the first time this week I've even had a day to myself," she began, tying her hair up so she could put her cap back on. "I'm not letting some _feeling_ I had at this shrine five years ago get in the way of catching up on gossip on Sailor V. I shouldn't have ever told you about it anyway."

"Are you kidding?" he asked, pawing her as he always did when he wanted her to pick him up, but didn't want to say it. "This is the closest thing we have to a clue. I figure we case the place and see if anything strange happens. Who knows? We might get lucky."

Careful not to lose her cap this time, she reached down and scooped Artemis into her arms. The white cat began to purr as he adjusted his paws over her forearm. She then walked through the gates into the temple. As she passed through the gates, the two ravens who had been watching her the whole time both took flight in unison, squawking as they retreated inside the shrine's grounds.

"Does that count?" she whispered to her passenger.

"Birds aren't strange happenings," Artemis said, disapprovingly. "If they turned into flames and left a liquid hot trail, then I'd call it strange."

"Baka," she whispered, shaking her head. "Let's walk around a bit."

The temple courtyard felt entirely different to Minako after entering, as the walls shielded her from the breeze and the warm, late afternoon sun warmed her skin. _How much of my mood is colored by the environment?_ Already feeling better, she approached the shrine, enjoying the feeling of the gravel crunching beneath her sneakers.

"There _is_ something weird about this place," Artemis whispered, wrinkling his whiskers. "I can't put my paw on it, but I think we're supposed to be here."

_Today almost feels normal_, Minako thought as she walked through the temple courtyard. It was hard to stay mad on such a nice day, no matter how hard she wanted to be. A smile cracked on her lips as she responded to his comment a few moments late.

"You always say that when you ride my shoulders," Minako teased, rubbing his head. "You're just happy to see me, aren't you?"

"Of course I missed my student," he said matter-of-factly. "There were so many things I needed you to investigate, but couldn't since you were on tour."

"Really?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No," he admitted. "Not really."

"Baka," she replied.

They walked around the temple grounds, dodging kids and avoiding bothering the locals who were praying with the old priest. After scoping the place, she noticed an old lady had sat on a bench on the path around the left side of the garden.

"I'm going to go ask her questions," she told Artemis, using her body to direct his view towards the solitary woman. "You look around back?"

"Roger," he told her, hopping out of her arms. "I'll meet you back at that bench in ten."

Taking the initiative, Minako hurried down the path to the bench with the old woman sitting on it and sat down next to her. The elder smiled at her and bowed her head slightly.

"Hello," Minako said formally, smiling at the old woman. "Do you live around here?"

"Oh, yes," the old woman said, scrunching her wrinkly face in a smile. "Down the block."

"Oh, that's nice," Minako said warmly, looking around the garden. "You must come here often, then."

"Yes, often enough," the old woman replied. She pointed at the priest. "Priest Hino has been a priest here since I was a young woman, with his father before him. It looks almost the same as it did forty years ago."

Minako nodded along with her, trying to keep the woman talking. She continued discussing the handful of changes the temple had seen over the decades. The Hikawa Shrine had been much busier at one point in its existence, occupied by a half-dozen priests and priestesses from the Hino family and from the neighborhood. It had been a place many came to find peace for their soul.

"So it's just the Priest Hino now, alone?" Minako asked, curious how one man could do so much.

"Oh, no," the lady replied vigorously. "There's a young miko who lives here as well. She is a good girl, very pretty, and very talented."

"I see," Minako muttered, looking about the place for a clue as to what to ask the woman. "So, nothing strange goes on here? No people falling asleep mysteriously, or suddenly getting sick?"

The old woman furrowed her brow, staring at Minako with concern. "No, nothing like that. I come here every week, and sometimes I get my fortune told when the girl. This is a place of good reputation."

"Fortune telling?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is it normal for Shinto temples to offer fortune telling? I thought that was for carnivals and festivals?"

"Not so much, I guess," the woman admitted, after which she gathered her purse in her arms, and then began to stand. "But I should be going. Take care, child."

After the woman left, Artemis jumped on the bench next to her and wedged up against her leg.

"Anything to report?" the cat asked in between licking his left paw.

"There's some kind of fortune teller here, but that's all I can figure out." Minako opened her magazine and stretched her legs out. "I don't think there's anything to that feeling I had _five years ago._"

Artemis switched paws without responding, so Minako looked at her own photo spread, which looked really touched up. "Wow, my skin looks like a doll's." Artemis perked up and perched his head on her lap to look. "See, this..."

"You took a bikini picture?!" he hissed, clawing the page. "Those predators!"

"Chill, Artemis," she said, pulling the periodical out of his cat range. "Seriously, my parents signed off on it." She set it back on her lap after she was sure he had calmed down, and then started reading the article, despite seeing the early release of it from her agent.

"Your parents are stupid," he complained, rolling to face the other way.

"You're stupid," she said with a smile, sticking her tongue out at the feline.

"Ungrateful, brat," Artemis said, and then scratched her arm lightly. "You'd do well to listen to me instead. I have your best interests at heart."

"I know, Arty." She grabbed the loose skin behind his neck, and scratched with her nails, eliciting a purr.

A few minutes into reading, Artemis tensed up. She ignored him, thinking he'd probably spotted a bird, and turned the page to her centerfold. In it she wore a yellow gown and held a microphone in her hand. This picture was just as touched up as the rest, giving her slightly larger eyes and perfect skin.

"There's something weird about that guy," Artemis told her quietly, his voice barely audible. Directly afterward, a boy nearby made a chortling sound. "Stay here, Mina-chan, I'm going to go follow him."

Minako looked to her left, but Artemis had sneaked away faster than she could notice. _Silly alien cat._ She then raised her head and looked up to see a cute boy with brown hair wearing baggy gym clothes. He ranked roughly eight of ten on her kissable ranking, causing her to smile at him.

_Who do we have here__? s_he thought, closing her magazine. _He even looks my age._

"Hi there," she told him after standing. He stared at her as if he recognized her. She looked at his face closely. He had one of those androgynous faces that would be pretty whether male or female.

"Hi," the boy replied, his voice still not matured yet, confirming he likely wasn't any older than she was. "I'm sorry, but do I know you? You look really familiar to me."

_Oh boy! Deflection time! s_he thought as she shook her head, causing the loose knot she'd tied her hair in to slip, in turn causing her hair to cascade down her back. "No, I'd totally remember you."

She looked him over again, this time noticing that his legs and arms were covered in bruises and scrapes that looked like someone had beaten him up. He seemed to get conscious of her appraisal, as his face got a little warm. Smiling at him, she asked, "What's your name?"

"Kuonji Ukyo," the boy replied, covering his chest with his bruised arms.

"How come you're in your gym clothes?" _Not that I mind l__ooking at your legs, but seriously, who goes to visit the shrine at a temple with school gym clothes on? _She absently adjusted her red bow around her throat, loosening it.

"My friend who lives here is going to mend my uniform." Ukyo looked a bit nervous, looking about for someone.

_He's friends with the miko? s_he thought. _Information gathering time!_

"I don't recognize it," she told him, smiling at him pleasantly. "Where do you go to school?"

"_Saint Agnes of Assisi School_," he told her, shifting away from her slightly.

_Se-na-ta what?! _she wondered, amazed by the words that came out of his mouth. _Was that Japanese? _She only understood the last part when he said school.

"We call it SAAS," he clarified.

"Ooooh, I've heard of that place," she said, relieved in understanding. _Oh wait, that's the all-boys school! _Her face felt warm at the thought. _Those are the types of places where yaoi manga begin_ - not that she had ever read any. "It's supposed to be the most rowdy school in the whole ward. Supposedly, there are fights every lunch, and teachers let it happen."

"It lives up to that reputation."

_Wait__, his clothes are torn, he's bruised... he's a bad boy! I know it! _"Did you get in a fight? Is that how your uniform got torn up?" She took a step forward, her eyes wide with her eagerness to learn every bit about this situation.

"Actually, yes," the boy admitted, his face warming brightly. He looked more bothered by her questions than embarrassed, but his cheeks couldn't hide it.

"Really?!" she exclaimed. _Kawaii! Nine out of ten!_

Suddenly, her communicator beeped. She looked down to her arm, and noticed her purse wasn't there, and then turned around and walked back to the bench.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please, excuse me," she told him as she went back to the bench and reached her hand in and pulled out the communicator that also served a dozen other purposes, including its disguise as a compact.

Flipping it open, Minako watched as the mirror suddenly displayed Artemis' image. He then directed his collar cam to show a boy in a school uniform, holding a bike and wearing a giant weapon on his back running away.

"Mina-chan! This guy's not normal! I can't catch him. Need your help ASAP!"

_Darn it, cat! I have cuties to talk to! _"Fine," she whispered instead of communicating her real thoughts. She turned to see the boy still standing there, uncomfortable.

"Looks like I have to go," she said as she put her compact back into her blue bowtie purse, and then slipped her arm through the handles. "Do you happen to know where the fortune teller is here? I was told there's one that works here who can really tell you the future."

"You're looking for Hino-san," Ukyo explained, pointing beyond the garden to the shrine. "She's the miko at the front of the shrine that's singing to the kids."

_The miko is the priest's relative, got 'cha! _"Oh, okay! Thanks! It was nice to meet you, Kuonji-san!" She bowed her head, and then skipped to where Artemis had showed her as fast as she could without seeming like she was running away.

Behind the shrine, the garden was thick with flowers, vegetable patches and several trees. She ran across it to the other side where she saw Artemis standing near the bicycle, which was resting on a flower bush.

"Artemis, what's going on?" she inquired as she walked up to him.

"He tried to drop his bike on me, and then slipped away when I dodged," the white cat told her, jumping up on his hind legs to tap her knee. She scooped him up in her arms. "He was from that all-boys school north of here. He spotted me and nearly bolted, so I gave chase and cut him off. But he was sneaky and kept turning away. It was like he knew me, knew that I was not just a regular cat."

"Or he's scared of cats," Minako offered, looking at the bike.

"Don't be silly," Artemis chastised. "Who in their right mind would be afraid of cats? We're a cute and cuddly bunch. And fix your hair, it all fell out of your cap."

The pop idol shrugged, as she placed Artemis on her shoulder, rather than try to tie her hair up one-handed. "Let's go look around for him. He couldn't have gotten far. The shrine isn't big enough."

"Alright, let's split up," he told her, leaping from her shoulder to the ground. "I'll go this way, you go back around that way. If you see him, try to block his way, but don't engage unless he turns out to be Dark Kingdom."

Minako went back the way she came. _Or he's afraid of cats._

By the time she had walked back to the end of the garden, she heard a noise. She turned and saw Ukyo and the boy that Artemis had been chasing, running on the other side of the garden directly for the building at the east end of the temple compound. She ran to catch up, but Artemis was already hot on their trail. They darted through some trees that provided a natural barrier between the garden and the house.

When Minako arrived, Artemis was outside the door, circling the door mat.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"I saw him, but he jumped directly over me and made a break for the house. He grabbed some girl in a boy's gym uniform and they escaped in there."

_Girl? s_he thought. _Oh, he must have meant Ukyo. He does look pretty enough to be a girl._

"Oh well, I'm not entirely sure there's a threat here," Artemis said, walking away from the house. "Best if we let things cool down before trying to approach them again."

"I was talking to the other boy," Minako told him, reaching down to grab him. He protested at first, but stopped once she had him in her arms. "_His_ name was Ukyo, and he's nice. He's definitely not Dark Kingdom."

"_She _was definitely a girl, and the boy with the weird bandolier and giant metal hammer-thing was definitely suspicious."

Minako shook her head. "Seriously, Artemis. I talked to him for a whole two minutes. He has a boy's name. He goes to an all-boys school. He was wearing a boy's gym uniform, and he's a nine of ten."

Artemis sighed. "Fine, kiss girls for all I care. But that's beside the point. We'll have to come back to investigate them later and in disguise."

They had walked across the garden back to the temple courtyard when she heard a voice echoing in the front of the shrine. It was a girl's voice, clear and brilliant like an angel from a choir.

"What's that?" she asked rhetorically, following the sound back to the source.

"Obviously that miko is singing to those primary school kids over there," Artemis said, pointing a paw at the front of the shrine. "She's pretty good."

_More like amazing,_ she thought in amazement. _She should have entered the idol contest and won instead of me, and made my life easier._

* * *

Aino Minako, Sailor V, Sailor Venus, Princess Venus, all of these name are of one person, but not a single one truly refers to the thirteen-year-old part-time idol, part-time crime fighter and sometimes student. Next chapter, Rei divines the future for the wayward warrior.


	11. Chapter 11

Fire can burn, shape and cleanse the world, but for Hino Rei, its heat also provides insight into the lives of those who seek her out. When a certain golden-haired girl approaches to hear her fortune, what will Rei discover?

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Eleven

When the first notes of the bamboo flute sweetly flitted on the wind, the children sitting on the gravel in front of the miko and her grandfather grew quiet, their attention drawn to the old priest's enchanting melody. He played each note with a subtle delicacy, allowing each to naturally soak into the air before picking up the tune.

Rei listened for the melody to build, waited for each haunting note to play, as they followed quicker each time. Her grandfather never delivered the same tuneful performance twice, sometimes dipping low and haunting, slowing in rhythm until it almost came to an end. Other times, it would be as steady as a march, and then pick up speed until his small, wrinkled hands appeared to blur against the polished bamboo of his shakuhachi flute.

After playing for a minute, he slowed the melody, and started the melody of the song of Tanabata, the star festival. Rei waited and then began to sing loudly and clearly, projecting her voice across the whole courtyard.

"_Sasa no ha sara sara (Bamboo leaves are rustling, rustling),  
nokiba ni yureru (Swaying close to the roof's edge)."_

After singing the second line, the children in front of her began to sing along, softly at first. Their voices grew with confidence as they closed out the first stanza.

"_Ohoshi-sama kira kira (Oh, how the stars are twinkling, twinkling),  
kin gin sunago (Gold and silver grains of sand)."_

Rei smiled and danced in front of the children, pantomiming the acts in the rest of the song, pretending to write wishes, and covering her eyes to look up to the sky.

"_Go shiki no tanzaku (Five wishes),  
watashi ga kaita (I have written).  
Ohoshi-sama kira kira (The stars are twinkling),  
sora kara miteru (And watching from the sky)."_

After the first time through, her grandfather began to loop the song, and they sang it again. This time even some of the adults had begun to sing along, and all of the children copied her pantomime. By the end, all of the children were laughing and clapping. They were rapidly chatting with each other, and then began demanding an encore.

"More!" the children exclaimed ecstatically. Some called out for other seasonal songs, but most just wanted more singing in general.

"Sing _C'est la vie!_" one blond boy's voice called out. His request changed the others to do the same, until all of the kids were cheering for her to sing _C'est la vie_, the featured single off her idol, Aino Minako's new album.

The request for pop songs was not unexpected, but Rei's face flushed because this was the first time they'd asked for a song she truly loved singing. On a typical day, she had no reservations _**to**_ about singing a pop song, but singing an Aino Minako song was difficult without an arrangement behind. This would take her well out of her comfort zone, and with others watching, it was added embarrassment.

She tried to decline, but the children didn't relent, continuing to call for her to sing it. Waving her hands out to signal her intention to surrender to their demands, Rei quieted them. "I will sing this one, but this will be the only request I take today."

The miko walked to the center in front of the shrine and cleared her throat, and then began. The first two verses she sang with the rhythm slower than the recorded single, but kept the cutesy inflections with each word, attempting to express it on her face as well.

"_Doushiyou mo nai shoudou ni tsukiugokasarete ima (Stirred by impulses that there's nothing I can do),  
Watashi no sore wa hajimatta kimi wo motomeru omoi (That has begun for me now, feelings searching for you)._

_Yotei chouwa no shousetsu ya eiga ga tsumaranai you ni (Just like predictable movies and books are boring),  
Jinsee mo sukoshi zure tara omoshiroi no kamoshirenai (When life is a little bit off, it might be more fun)."_

After completing the opening, she entered the chorus by elevating her pitch, emphasizing the song name in each verse with her crystal clear enunciation.

"_Atsui kimochi wa C'est la vie (This warm feeling is C'est la vie),  
Watashi ga watashi de iru kagiri (As long as I am me),  
C'est la vie anata wo aishitsuzuketai (C'est la vie, I want to keep on being in love with you),  
Me no mae ni aru kono shunkan ga ikiru basho (Running through the place where this moment lives),  
Kakenukete (Right in front of me)."_

After that stanza, she began to notice other people joining the kids in the front, including a few local women whom she saw regularly, and a junior high student with a baseball cap. She continued, her voice steady as she moved to the second half of the song.

"_Hito wa naze ichido dake shika ikiru chansu ga nai no (Why is it that people have but one chance to live life)?  
Toki wa naze ichibyou sae mo tachidomaranai no darou (Why does time not stand still even for one second?)"_

For a moment, Ranma's face appeared in her mind. When she blinked the next moment, the image was gone and she was staring out at the faces of the children, but she still felt him present, as if he had been there the whole time. Her cheeks felt warm when the confusing feelings coursed through her, but she continued the song, unfettered by her feelings. She closed her eyes as she went into the next stanza.

"_Omoigakenai dokoka ga ne (Just like an unexpected someplace),  
Kutsuzure wo okosu mitai ni (Causes sores from the shoes on my feet),  
Tokidoki wa mune no dokoka ga setsunaku nattari suru kedo (From time to time someplace in my heart feels pain)."_

Completing the last verse, she repeated the chorus twice more, no longer paying attention to anything outside of her own head. Singing clarified things in her mind, removing all of her doubts and fears. It didn't usually cause images of boys to pop up, but she hadn't been close to any, except for Ukyo. As she sang the last verses of the song, she opened her eyes.

"_Me no mae ni aru kono shunkan ga ikiru basho (Running through the place where this moment lives),  
Kakenukete (Right in front of me),  
Kakenukete (Right in front of me)."_

The little crowd in front of her began clapping and cheering moments after she finished singing. She smiled as she bowed before them. The children demanded an encore, calling out the names of other pop songs, but Rei bowed her head.

"Sorry, all, that's all for now," she apologized, allowing her grandfather to start playing his flute in her stead. For many the sound of a traditional flute was haunting, but it made her feel tranquil. She turned and walked to the shrine, passing two old women who had attended an earlier ritual that her grandfather had performed.

As she slid the door open to the inner shrine, a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Rei jumped at the sudden contact.

"Sorry," the voice of the girl who had stopped her said.

Rei turned to look at the junior high school girl in the baseball cap, which was angled low, obscuring most of her face. This close, Rei noticed the girl wore the uniform of Juuban Municipal Junior High School. Though Rei had never seen her before, she looked familiar enough that the girl probably came her often. Despite that, Rei didn't have a clue what her name was.

"Yes?" Rei asked of the girl, who pulled back a step. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, and sorry," the girl apologized, adjusting her cap with her right hand. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to ask you a question before you left."

"No problem," Rei told her with a half-smile. "What did you want to know?"

"Are you a fortune teller? I was told someone here reads fortunes."

Rei nodded, pointing inward. "Yes, but I'm not a palm reader, or a card reader." Inside the center of the shrine, a fire pit had been installed before her time. However, no flames burned there yet, so it looked like a hole in the middle of the shrine. "I practice _pyromancy_."

"Pi-Ro-Ma-Shi?" the girl asked, confusion plain on her face. "What's that?"

"Come in and I'll show you," Rei told her. She walked to the fire pit in the center of the shrine. She turned on the gas, and then reached for matches that she kept nearby. After sparking a light, she dropped it in, causing the flames to light up. "It's the art of seeing the future in fire."

"I've never heard of that," the girl told her. "How does it work?"

"Take a seat right there," Rei told the girl, pointing at a pillow she had placed in front of the fire pit. Once the girl took a seat, she walked around to the other side and sat opposite her. "You ask questions, and I try to see an answer. Simple enough?"

"Will I see anything?" the girl asked. From her voice, Rei could tell she believed, which would help her read the girl better. There was nothing more useless than trying to figure out someone who only wanted to disprove fortune tellers.

"No," Rei told her. "At least, no one I've read has ever seen anything. I can't say it's not possible."

"Okay, I'm ready," the girl told her. "Do I just ask you something?"

"Not yet," Rei said, taking in a deep breath. "First I need to know a little about you." She crossed her legs and planted her hands face up in her lap. She stared at the girl's face lit by the flames of the fire. Her eyes were wide with wonder.

Rei smiled at the girl. "Just tell me about yourself. Your name, details about your life, anything like that. It helps me connect with you during the reading."

"I suppose that makes sense," the girl told Rei, copying her sitting pose. "Let's see. I'm thirteen. My birthday is the twenty-second of October, and I'm a Libra. My blood type is B-negative."

_Yet you didn't say your name,_ Rei thought wryly. _There are people ashamed of going to see a fortune teller, and they usually __don't give their names._

Rei closed her eyes and began chanting, shutting out all thoughts but the girl. Even if the flames themselves did not help her with the reading, the light crackling sound they produced with the warmth helped her to focus her thoughts on the girl, to draw inspiration from her.

_She's looking for something, or someone,_ Rei thought, realizing the sincerity of the girl's need. People hiding their identities rarely came for entertainment. She would be of the type that was out of other options.

"You're too close," Rei said, focusing on the girl's intensity. "Until you back off, you won't find what you're looking for."

The girl jerked back and put a hand to her mouth, her eyes as wide as they could open. "You saw something?"

"Not yet," Rei admitted, putting both of her hands up to the fire. "You are seeking something, and you've come to me hoping I can help you?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, loosing a lock of straw-colored hair from her cap, spilling down upon her shoulders. The detail stuck in Rei's mind as she stared at the girl, her eyes gleaming in the firelight. Before she had copied Rei's move to hold her palms upward, but now that her guard was down, she held her hands together tightly in front of her.

An image began to form in Rei's head as she stared at the girl over the fire, which had risen an inch since she had turned it on, covering up the girl's chin. Rei ignored the discrepancy and concentrated on the visage in her mind as the warmth of the flames flushed her face.

_It's like tr__ying to recognize someone far away, _Rei thought as she squinted her eyes. Four indistinct figures stood behind a woman who held out her arms to block their faces. She wore a gown of gold, her hair a match, lit by the intense flames in the center of the pit. _Is the fire actually showing me this?_

"Is there something you have to hide from me that would prevent me from finding the four people you are looking for?" Rei asked of the girl after the image in the flames died away.

The girl gasped. "How could you have known that? That I was looking for four people?"

"I don't know," Rei told her truthfully. She inhaled deeply, trying to focus her thoughts. "Please tell me more. If you really want my help, you will have to share something with me that I can use as a focus."

"Yellow is my favorite color," the girl began, but Rei cut her off.

Rei watched the girl closely as she told her what she needed. "No, you have to tell me something deeper. Confess a love, or someone you hate. Tell me something you haven't told anyone before, or something you promised you would not tell me."

"I don't know what I _can_ tell you," the girl said, her eyes downcast.

_I need to get her to open up, _Rei thought, pondering a solution. _I need her to tell me more, or I won't get any further._

"Alright, then focus on something that causes you to feel a lot of emotion, like love or sadness. If it's not going to be something you tell me, then it has to be something I can see."

"Okay," the teen told her, closing her eyes. She was silent a moment, her brows angled in concentration. "Alright, I have something."

The flames rose to forehead height as Rei focused on the girl, and she was only able to make out the girl's silhouette behind the fire. Rei broke her concentration and looked down at the knob that controlled the gas, finding it in the same spot she always left it when she performed the ritual. She looked up again and inhaled sharply in surprise. The blue silhouette of a woman leaned over a cliff, holding the hand of another silhouetted figure who dangled below her.

Rei stared at the blue silhouettes in awe of the image, something not imagined in her head.

"Is everything okay?" the girl asked.

The image began to vanish, prompting Rei to say, "Don't lose your focus. Keep that last image in your head."

"Okay," she replied quieter than before. "How long do I have to think about him?"

The silhouetted figures reappeared stronger this time, larger as well, filling most of the flames. The woman held a man's hand, his only lifeline. Rei watched in fascination as the man slowly began to disintegrate until her hand clasped shut. From the flames, a piece of paper popped out and landed in Rei's lap.

"Ace?" Rei asked in absolute surprise as an Ace of Hearts playing card landed in her lap.

"No!" the girl in the baseball cap stood up suddenly. "How did you know his name?! You couldn't know that!"

Rei looked up, startled by the girl's breaking of her concentration. The girl had tears in her eyes, and was no longer wearing her cap. Her shiny, yet messy blond hair was waist length. The flames died back down to a normal level, catching the attention of both girls. Upon looking back down in her lap, the card was gone.

"This is getting creepy," the girl said, plopping back down.

"This has never happened before," Rei admitted, her eyes wide since the last few minutes. "You said Ace was his name? The boy who vanished in your hands?"

The girl's mouth dropped open in shock. "You saw all of that in your fire?"

Rei nodded, but realized that the situation was getting out of hand. Despite the revelation that her pyromancy was actually beginning to work, it was also causing her customer real distress.

"This is so creepy," the girl told her, but she didn't sound scared. She wiped her eyes with the bow around her neck. "You saw what I was picturing in my mind."

Rei opened her mouth to apologize, but realized how useless that would be. The girl came for a real fortune telling, and she got an authentic experience. Despite now suddenly being the real deal, Rei rather preferred her people reading. It was a lot less startling.

Images had never actually appeared for the people who asked questions before the flames of the Hikawa Shrine in the past, as far as Rei knew, but there hadn't been a fire reader since her great-grandmother, her grandfather's mother. Most people wanted guidance that she could provide, or wanted to be awed by some mystical insight. Rei had keenly provided answers that people wanted to hear to move on with their lives with confidence. She had never promised them anything, but most people just need reassurance that they were on the right path, or wanted confirmation that they were on the wrong one.

The girl in front of her was serious for her age, and seemed to be nothing but secrets.

"Do you want to keep going?" Rei asked of the girl, knowing she would say yes, but half-hoping she would say no.

"Absolutely," the girl said, her voice hushed as she adjusted her position. "This is the closest I've come to finding my friends since..." The girl stopped talking for a moment, staring away from Rei. "It's been a long time."

"Alright," Rei said solemnly, inhaling deeply. "I'll begin again, but please don't talk unless I ask a question, okay?"

"Okay!" the girl replied enthusiastically. "I'll be as quiet as a mouse."

"Close your eyes and concentrate on the things I tell you to," Rei told her, crossing her legs underneath her as she rested her palms face up in her lap. "If you find your mind wandering, remember the heat of the fire. It will guide you in the right direction."

The girl nodded, shifting slightly closer to the flames.

Rei chanted the words of the fire reading ritual again, shutting down all idle thoughts. Just as she finished, the fire rose slightly again, and she felt something this time, a subtle shift in the air, as if someone had joined them.

"Picture yourself wearing a golden gown with golden bows in your hair," Rei said with as soothing a voice as she could manage, looking over the flames at the girl, whose face was taut with concentration. "Where do you picture yourself?"

"On the balcony of my room," the girl answered with a dreamy voice.

"What do you see?" Rei asked.

"My home planet." The words mystified Rei, but the girl's hypnotic state seemed to be influencing her answers.

"Are you alone?"

"No," she responded, only half-sure of her answer. "I think someone is behind me."

The fire flared up again, the heat of the flames rising as they both sat at either end of it. From her seated position, Rei fell back, catching herself on her elbows, and yet she could not take her eyes off the flames. Another burst of energy flowed over her and she closed her eyes to protect them from the heat. A girl with flaxen hair stood on a balcony, her golden gown shining brightly in the light of the sun, a dozen times larger than she had ever seen in Earth's sky. The girl in the image was the same as the girl on the other side of the flames, yet she seemed an entirely different person, maybe older, and a picture of youth and peerless beauty. Rei would have gasped at her loveliness had she been able.

A man stepped onto the balcony with the golden princess, his body concealed in armor an inch thick. His black hair was longer, tied back in a pigtail, and his blue eyes looked haunted from a hundred battles, and his face was older and scarred, but he was unmistakably Saotome Ranma. Rei did gasp upon seeing him, causing not only the vision to end, but the flames to die back down to a normal level. As if released from a spell, Rei fell to her back, her head hitting the wooden floor of the shrine softly.

"Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" a male voice asked from the door.

Both she and the girl looked at Ranma, who stood at the threshold of the shrine.

_He must have interfered with the signals she was giving off, _Rei reasoned, glaring at the boy.

"If you have to ask—" Rei began, but was immediately cut off.

"You're here!" the girl said, standing so quickly that Rei didn't actually see her do it.

For his sake, Ranma did what he always would when embarrassed, putting his right hand behind his head. "Guess I am."

"Ranma," Rei began, her voice rising an octave in her annoyance. "You're interrupting our session. What did you need?"

"Sorry," he said, looking down at his feet. "Gramps said you'd probably be done."

"It's okay," the blond girl told him, reaching down to gather her cap. "I'm roasted enough for one day. How long were we in here?"

Ranma shrugged, sliding the shrine's door open wide to reveal the sun more than three-quarters set in the sky. "It's already dinner time. I just came to get you."

Staring at the sky in shock, Rei's jaw dropped open. "That's not possible."

Ranma took a few steps into the shrine, stopping in front of the girl, who Rei could tell was staring at him openly.

"Hey, I know you," Ranma announced to the girl loudly.

The girl took a panicked step back, almost directly into the fire. Her heel caught on the edge of the fire pit, but she lost her balance. For Rei, everything after the girl's step back occurred in slow motion, from the moment her heel connected with the edge of the pit, to when her back arched as she fell back into the fire.

However, it wasn't the fall that was as surprising as Ranma's reaction to it. Rei had seen him move quickly before, but somehow at the very moment she began to fall, he kicked his right leg forward in response, shifting forward before he even seemed to realize what he was doing. The look of pure determination on his face mirrored his stunningly quick movement to her side, where he caught her in his arms, and then leaped over the fire.

He held the girl in his arms a moment longer as she adjusted her arms over his shoulders for balance. The two of them looked like a picture, except for one surprisingly large detail.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked the blond girl in his arms.

"I've never been better," she whispered, just loud enough for Rei to hear.

"Ranma, not to ruin this painting-worthy moment, but you're on fire."

Ranma, whose pants leg was on fire, set the girl down quickly and immediately did the least heroic-looking thing she could imagine him do – stop, drop and roll. Although his clothes were no longer aflame, Rei had to laugh at that.

"Always stopped by fire," the girl said wistfully, checking herself for clothing burns as well.

"Sure, laugh it up, Rei," Ranma said, right before he performed a kip-up to his feet, going from prone position to squatting in one move. He bent over and examined his legs. "Burned my stupid pants, but it didn't quite get me."

Rei sighed, reaching over to turn off the gas, extinguishing the flame in the fire pit.

"I'm sorry," the blond girl said, bowing her head in apology. "I will buy you a new uniform."

"Nah," Ranma said, waving his hand at her. "I'm sure Rei can help me patch it up."

A light blush began to rise on Rei's cheeks. The thought of repairing his pants was surprisingly embarrassing, despite the fact that she had actually washed his clothes previously. _Cleaning week_-_old clothing from the back of a martial artist is just disgusting, rather than embarrassing._

"I see," the girl said, turning to look back at Rei. "Would it be okay if I came back for another reading some time, Rei-san?"

Blinking at the usage of her name so familiarly already, Rei thought about it for a moment. _Although that experience was really creepy, I think I need to see more__._ She then nodded to the girl.

"Yatta!" the girl said, hopping in excitement. "I better go before my mentor gets worried about me. When should I come back?"

"Thursday," Rei told her, walking around to Ranma's side. She looked up at him, and he smiled down at her, causing her stomach to feel all wobbly inside. _Stupid boys._

"I'll be here after school, then!" the girl told the two of them. "Ranma-san, will you be here, too?"

"Su—" Ranma began, but Rei elbowed him.

"He'll be busy with a project, but I'll see if we talk to him afterward, maybe."

Ranma glared down at her, rubbing his ribs where she'd jabbed him.

"Alright, see you both in two days!" The girl then skipped out of the shrine as if she had found what she'd been looking for.

_Such a weird girl,_ she thought, feeling strangely possessive of Ranma in that girl's presence. _Maybe she was just looking for a boyfriend or something._

"What was with the elbow?" Ranma asked once the girl had disappeared.

"I need to see her alone," Rei told him, patting his arm in a nonverbal apology. She then thought back to the reason why he'd arrived in the first place. "So, who made dinner anyway?"

"Ucchan," Ranma answered with a grin as they walked out of the shrine. "He made a whole bunch of food. I didn't even know he could cook anything other than okonomiyaki."

_From dire enemies to being cooked for,_ Rei thought, snorting in laughter. _Only Ranma could pull that off._

"What's funny?" Ranma asked pulling the shrine door shut behind them.

"You," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh yeah?" he retorted, sticking his own back out at her. "At least I'm not blind."

The comment took her aback, as it was not in his usual repertoire. _Blind? What was that supposed to mean? _She asked him that very question.

"You totally didn't recognize that girl you post all over your walls," Ranma told her as they walked together over the gravel path around the front of the shrine.

"Huh?" Rei uttered, completely not getting the reference. "What are you talking about? The girl I splash all over my walls?" _The only__ person I have more than one poster of is Aino Minako, but that girl wasn't her._

"That pop singer who you forced me to listen to when I was out with the head bump." Ranma then took the time to leap up onto the bench along the path to the garden. Somehow he didn't overturn it as he balanced on the back of it.

"I'll admit, she has similar characteristics to Aino Minako, the idol," Rei acknowledged. "However, they only have similar attributes. She just looked totally different, though."

"I never forget a face," Ranma told her seriously, even though he looked absolutely ridiculous balancing on the bench. "That was _so_ her. I don't even idolize the chick, and I recognized her."

Rei cupped her chin as they made their way back to the dormitory. _The girl didn't give her name and wore a disguise. Her uniform was new as if she hadn't worn one in a while. She had the same hair as Aino Minako. But I would have recognized her immediately if it was her!_

"If it wasn't for her stupid c-cat," Ranma commented after he jumped off the bench and landed beside her. "Damn thing chased me clear across the temple."

Rei's head swiveled to stare at him, remembering his allergy. Things were beginning to click into place in her head, as if she had unraveled a mystery. "Cat, you say?" He shivered when she mentioned the animal.

"Yeah, hideous thing. All white with a stupid little mark on its head. Thing has beady eyes and probably eats babies."

Rei completely ignored his rant, thinking back to what she knew about Aino Minako. The idol was the same age as Rei, and came from Juuban originally. She recently finished a tour around Japan, and hadn't been seen by the press for a few days. She has been pictured with a particular white cat...suddenly as if a veil had been lifted from her brain, the girl's image in her head looked identical to her idol.

"OH MY GOD!" Rei shouted, startling Ranma, who fell into the bushes beside her. "I READ AINO MINAKO'S FORTUNE!"

Ranma picked himself out of the bushes and began to dust himself off. "Is it really that exciting?"

Rei took him by the shoulders and looked directly into his eyes. "Yes!"

* * *

Notes: This chapter took a long time to plot, write, revise, revise again, and then completely rewrite the second half, and then finish. I've been unsure of how to approach this part for a long time and barely got through it. Now time to figure when to introduce the remaining supporting characters, and decide on who some of them will be. One character is joining the cast due to a reader review and follow up PMs in conversation, so don't think your opinions don't count.

What's coming up? Ranma has a surprise at school tomorrow. Rei and Ukyo get closer. Later, Minako comes back and shakes things up. Later still, Ranma makes (another) new friend, and a new enemy, or is it a frenemy? Sailor V arrives on seen. Let the cameos begin! There was already one cameo both in this and the last chapter by a super minor character Sailor Moon character. Expect some more minor characters making unnamed cameo appearances, because why not?

Until next time!


	12. Chapter 12

Tanabata approaches as Ranma, Rei and Ukyo sleep soundly at the temple. As each of their decisions and actions causes ripples, another consequence of Ranma's arrival in Juuban will throw the delicate balance of the future into question.

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Twelve

The Tanabata festival of the original star-crossed lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, would take place on Saturday on the seventh of August, and the few inhabitants of the Hikawa Shrine, both new and old, had already begun to set up the decorations for the festivities. In addition to the bamboo trees already filled with paper wishes, paper lanterns were half-strung throughout the temple, and the strenuous task of placing them was in progress. Ranma and Ukyo were the two carrying out the preparations on that Wednesday morning, the day after the two fought in the schoolyard.

Focusing all of his strength into the downward drive of his arms, the boy in the temple courtyard sent the eleven-foot pole piercing into the earth between the bamboo trees along the gravel pathway. He had already loosened the soil with a shovel, but driving a pole twice his height down a quarter of its length into even loose soil sorely tested his abilities. His arms had already begun to ache on the fifth one of these he had placed upright along the path. However, he had gone out of his way to do it this way rather than dig a hole normally, and then fill it in with dirt.

"Find training in everything you do," his father had told him before shoving off to parts unknown.

_I wonder what the bald old __man is up to now, _Ranma thought as he wiped sweat from his brow. A slight ache in his chest threatened to trigger eye watering, but the boy sucked in air and put away the thoughts of his father. Without a home, Genma was the only constant in his life until now.

The temple felt more like a home than he had known in a while. Although he had lived in camping grounds and the occasional dojo, the Hikawa Shrine on the top of Cherry Hill felt more like home than anywhere he had stayed in his entire life. He wasn't entirely sure why he felt that way after only four days and five nights living there, but he strongly suspected it had to do with the people living there with him.

"Hey, Ranma," the miko called out to him to him, waving her hand. She approached from the garden to the north side of the shrine, dressed in her school clothes and with her black-winged pets perched on her shoulders. Their black feathers blending with the color of her hair, the two ravens remained on the girl's shoulders despite her quick pace across the temple grounds. After walking around to the front of the shrine where he had been working since dawn, she bee-lined directly towards him.

Ranma stood up straight and inhaled deeply before waving his hand to greet the one who had welcomed him the most, despite having every reason not to. She might have mistaken him for a burglar before, but the only thing he had stolen was probably her trust. Rei looked radiant with the sun reflecting off her shiny black hair, and warming her pale skin. Every detail in the way she presented herself was elegant, from the pristine white of her knee-high socks, up to her ironed black skirt and her gray blouse, including the perfectly even tie of her cherry red scarf.

"Hey," Ranma answered, facing her as she walked away from the shrine directly to him. The wind caught him in the chest as he did so, pushing open his jacket. The breeze felt amazing, as the sweat of exercise cooled against his skin. He sighed, exhaling a deep breath as he approached her.

"Whoa!" Rei cried out, looking away and covering her eyes with a hand. "What are you wearing?!" Her birds took that moment to depart, as if the sight of him had been enough for them, too.

Ranma looked down at his training pants and his school jacket. "Uh, jacket and pants?"

"Where the heck is your shirt?" Rei demanded, crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Over there," he replied, pointing to the bench nearby. He had taken off the shirt of his gi nearly thirty minutes ago after his combination of school jacket and training gi had left him sweating before he'd even begun working. "It got warm. Why?"

"Then why are you wearing a jacket instead? That doesn't make any sense!"

"You told me to wear a jacket before I went out," he said neutrally, going back to work. He lifted a pole with one hand and wandered over to the next spot.

"Don't try to reason with him," Ukyo told Rei as he strung electrical wire with paper lanterns over the tops of the poles that Ranma had planted on the other side of the path.

The enemy-turned-friend had stayed the night as Rei hadn't been able to fix his uniform until late into the night. He had called for permission from his father to stay over. Rei's grandfather had seemed pleased at having another guest, so after Ukyo's father accepted, he stayed in an empty room that Ranma had helped prepare for him.

Ukyo continued, "I already brought it up that he could just wear the shirt, but he said it's fine this way."

"You'd think he'd learn a bit of common sense living on the road for so long," Rei complained behind his back.

"The school of hard knocks left that lesson out," Ukyo joked, just as Ranma got into position to plant the last pole he'd be putting in the ground this morning.

"It's just really distracting," Rei said quietly to Ukyo, but not low enough for Ranma to miss. "I'd never get anything done with his chest hanging out like that."

Ranma stopped and looked back at his two friends talking about him. "Too much for you?"

"You wish, baka," Rei said, sticking her tongue out at him. "I wasn't talking to you, either."

Shrugging in response, Ranma squared his stance and held the pole above the ground as high as he could reach.

"Rei-chan," Ranma heard Ukyo say while he drove the pole into the ground. "I just got used to it. People undressing in locker rooms, you know?"

"Only because you're a boy," Rei admitted. "I don't have a brother, and I didn't grow up with my father, so I didn't see anything until this one came crashing into my home."

Slipping out of jacket, Ranma turned back to face the two again. "I'm gonna rinse off before breakfast. That's why you came out here, right? Breakfast, I mean?"

Rei didn't respond, the look in her eyes priceless as he slung the navy blue coat over his right shoulder. Ukyo averted her gaze quicker than the black-haired girl, as if he was suddenly finding stringing paper lanterns very interesting. Rei for her part caught herself staring and turned around, red-faced.

"That's just an indecent thing to do in a temple," she bashfully told him.

Ranma laughed, finding their reactions far more humorous than he expected. He would have to remember it for the next time he needed to one-up Rei.

The rest of the morning was far less interesting. Ranma showered, dressed, and then joined the old priest, Rei and Ukyo for breakfast. There was far less talking than there had been at dinner. _Boy was __that intere__sting._

"Why don't you work part time here at the temple?" Rei's grandfather had asked Ukyo in between bites.

"I'm sorry, Hino-sempai," Ukyo had said with a bow of his head. "I already have a part time job at a restaurant."

"That's too bad!" he had replied after swallowing a big bite of rice. "You'd make a great miko."

Rei had face-palmed as Ukyo had stared at the old man slack-jawed. Ranma could only chuckle in response at the time, though the comment had been odd.

"But I'm a boy," Ukyo had protested.

"You're pretty enough to be a girl!" Apparently, gender didn't stop the old man from trying to fill his temple with able-bodied youngsters to do his bidding.

Finishing a bowl of miso soup, Ranma placed the bowl in front of him with a grin at the memory. He looked up at Rei, catching her staring again. She coughed, choking on her breakfast as she looked away.

"We should go now," Rei told them, apparently no longer interested in the rest of her food on the plate. She turned to Ukyo, who was sitting beside her. "I want to get there a bit early. You'll probably want to go apologize for ditching class after lunch."

With the speed of a martial artist trained from a young age to not waste food, Ranma captured the rest of Rei's food before she had even realized. He had it halfway finished by the time Rei and Ukyo turned to stare at him.

"What?" he asked with a mouth full of food. Neither answered, so he shrugged at them and finished the rest of it.

Ukyo and Rei chatted at the front door as they waited for Ranma to join them. He walked to the door and grabbed his jacket, which smelled clean despite him sweating in it this morning. He smiled as he slipped into it and walked up to his friends at the door.

The trio exited the dormitory and left the temple quickly after that. When they were a few blocks from the temple, Ukyo fell back to talk to Ranma, leaving Rei to lead the way. She smiled back at Ukyo, who nodded at her.

_They're really tight,_ Ranma noticed for the first time, staring at the brown-haired boy. Rei had mentioned that they had been close long before Ranma arrived. "What's up, Ucchan?"

"Mind if we talk?" the boy asked him seriously, his eyes not looking away from Ranma's.

"Sure, buddy," he said, jumping down from the fence he'd been walking on.

"Thanks," he told Ranma, falling in beside him. "We haven't really gotten a chance to talk alone since... you know."

Ranma nodded, smiling at Ukyo. "Yeah, that was the best fight I've had in a while. You wanna talk tactics?"

Ukyo looked at him with wide eyes. "Uh, maybe later." He looked forward and started biting his nails.

"Alright, then, what's on your mind?" Ranma asked, noticing that Rei was giving them a good distance. _Wait, is this where he tells me that they're dating? Oh man, that would suck._

"Ranma, thanks for not saying anything," Ukyo told him, his eyes grateful as he made eye contact. "I really like it at SAAS, and you could have gotten rid of me in seconds. But you didn't."

_Ooookay, what the hell is he talking about now? _Ranma thought, while he nodded. "Sure buddy, no problem. We're childhood friends. That was just heated reunion sparring, for all I'm concerned."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who knows my secret. I think half of me was just scared you'd recognize me, and then tell the principal." Ukyo's voice sounded so relieved that Ranma ignored the fact he had no clue what the boy was talking about.

"Alright, well, a secret between us is like buried pirate treasure without a map," he said, clapping Ukyo on the shoulder. "I don't even know what secret you're talking about anyway, so consider me silenced."

Ukyo gave him a side-hug in response. "Thanks, Ranchan! It's so nice to have someone on the inside, you know?"

"Sure," he responded, patting Ukyo on the back. "I'll defend your secrets with my life."

Ukyo seemed to almost skip as Rei slowed down to let them catch up.

"You boys have a nice chat?" she asked, a bit of concern on her face.

"Everything is good, Rei-chan!" Ukyo told her with an exuberance that Ranma hadn't witnessed from the boy before.

"We're all square here, Rei," Ranma said shortly after, smiling at her. For whatever reason, she averted her gaze the moment after their eyes met.

The rest of the trip to school was fairly boring as Rei and Ukyo chatted like schoolgirls, though only one actually held that title, despite her usual lack of stereotypical schoolgirl behavior. Ranma listened in one time to hear about their archery club, and who was dating whom, to know he didn't care to eavesdrop anymore.

They began to approach the elementary school, and Ranma gleefully leaped up to the top of the high wall. Some of the kids were down below, apparently waiting for him as they began to cheer at him. Ranma waved down at them and they cheered more.

He walked the length of it, looking down at the kids who were following below him.

"Hey, watch this!" he yelled down at them. He then vaulted and landed on his hands, continuing the same pace on his arms.

"Oh, what the heck, Ranma?" Rei swore up at him, thought her scowl looked pretty funny to him upside down.

"Just showing off for the kids," he told her, flipping back to his feet.

He jammed his hands into his pockets with a grin. By the time he reached the far end of the wall, the kids' enthusiasm had tapered off and most had walked back to the front of the school building. Ranma yawned as he looked down at the two teenagers who were trying their best to ignore him. Ranma took one more glance out to the school yard.

It was only then that he noticed one solitary girl still watching him. The black-haired girl sat still on a swing in the sandbox, her little red backpack still strapped to her back. The look in her eyes spoke volumes as to why she sat alone. Although she couldn't have been more than a second or third year elementary school student, she was wispy with thin arms and light skin, a shade from pale making her look even younger.

"Hi!" Ranma shouted down to her, waving. The girl's eyes widened as she ever-so-slightly waved back at him. "Fight-o!" He didn't catch her follow-up expression as he ran out of wall and jumped down to the sidewalk.

"You really are a freak," Rei said as she and Ukyo rejoined him.

"You do this every day?" Ukyo asked in wonder.

"Twice a day," Rei replied quickly.

"Balance training," Ranma replied, and then stuck his tongue out at Rei.

"If it's balancing your ego, you're failing," she cut back, returning fire, going one extra and pulling down her eyelid.

Ukyo barked out laughing, clutching at his stomach. "You guys are too much."

Ranma stayed on the sidewalk the rest of the walk to class, and he found the challenge not to jump up on everything harder than the actual balancing.

In no time, they reached the split where Rei left them to head to her school.

"Ranma, I have club practice after class. You can stick around, or go home on your own."

"You could always join us, too," Ukyo offered, as Rei departed across the street. "We could use someone as skilled as you."

"I've never done Kyudo," Ranma told the boy.

"Like you never used spatula shuriken, or wielded my battle spatula." Ukyo poked his shoulder.

"Well, I just applied other stuff to it," he said with a shrug. "Kyudo is serious. Don't get me wrong, I _could_ learn it, but pops would be upset if I told him. He doesn't think it's worthwhile unless I'm practicing dodging arrows, or something."

"That's crazy," Ukyo whispered as they neared the gate to their school.

The sight of the sign for the school gave Ranma a chill. _If today is half as good as yesterday,_ Ranma thought with a smirk on his face. He stopped, tapping Ukyo's shoulder. "Hey, Ucchan."

The boy who had walked a step ahead of Ranma turned to face him. "What's up?" The boy's hair fell into his blue eyes as he turned.

"I know it's kind of a sticky subject," he began, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But if you ever need to talk to a brother-in-arms about whatever, you can talk to me, you know?"

The change in Ukyo's expression was slight, but noticeable as the ocean blue hue of his eyes was swallowed by his dilating pupils, and his lips cracked open. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and turned, but nodded subtly in response.

"Cool," Ranma said, patting his shoulder. "Childhood friends gotta stick together. I know you can kick anyone at this school's ass, but if anyone gives you trouble, they're messing with me, too."

With his face still turned, Ukyo nodded again. "Thanks, Ranchan. Same goes to you." His voice was a bit choked in his reply.

Ranma walked forward, his arm around Ukyo's shoulder as they crossed through the gate into Saint Agnes of Assisi's School for Boys. Ranma's mood slipped towards caution as they walked into a crowd. At least three dozen students filled the courtyard in front of the school, all of them in sports gear, jerseys or otherwise armed with bats, balls, lacrosse sticks, Kendo shinai, and other various athletic gear.

_Is this some kind of outdoor assembly of __sports teams? _Ranma thought as he slowed up. He turned to Ukyo, who seemed to be just as stumped by the unexpected crowd.

"Are they recruiting?" Ranma asked his friend, who only shrugged in response. "This school is pretty weird, even for some of the wacky places I've been."

"I've never seen anything like this," Ukyo said as they took a few more steps into the courtyard. "Recruiting season is over by, like, four months."

When they walked closer, the crowd seemed to get rowdier, their voices raising and some of them pointed at Ranma and Ukyo.

"You sure?" Ranma said. "Seems like they're about to come ask me to join their club. This happened last year, but not this extreme. I'm pretty good at any sport I play."

"They're coming this way," Ukyo said as they stopped at the halfway point between the gate and the entrance to the school.

In the front of the pack was a large kid, at least a year or two older than Ranma. He wore baggy black pants and was shirtless. The size of the boy was rather intimidating, even to Ranma who could probably beat him several times over, before the kid even got a single hit on him.

"Saotome Ranma!" the boy yelled, approaching him with the sort of battle aura Ranma only saw when people tried to beat him silly. "For crimes against this school, including beating our savior and idol, Kuonji Ukyo-sama, and for stealing away the goddess Hino-sama, we condemn you to death!"

Ranma blinked as the boy finished his speech. He looked about the yard, where some thirty sports club kids, ranging from twelve to fifteen years old, moved to surround him. Passively watching them, Ranma stuck his hands in his coat pockets.

"Wait, guys!" Ukyo called out to them. "It's a misunderstanding!"

Ranma took his left hand out of his pocket and put it on Ukyo's shoulder. When the boy turned to him, Ranma shook his head.

"What?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me," Ranma told the boy as he slipped out of his jacket. He handed it to Ukyo, who took it with a mystified expression on his face. "Seriously, I love this school."

"But..." Ukyo looked down at Ranma's jacket in his hands. "They'll kill you."

Ranma shook his head. "They're going to try."

"Those are some big words for a seventh grader!" the ringleader yelled, causing half the kids to laugh. "I'm a senior, two years your sempai. Leave this school forever, or we will beat you until even the altruistic Hino-sama finds you too hideous to look at."

Ranma pushed Ukyo back a few feet and put his hands in his pockets. "Are you willing to bet on it?"

This caused a stir among the assembled crowd. Some of them stared slack-jawed at his utter cockiness. The rest laughed, pointing at him as if he were a buffoon. Ranma merely smiled at him.

"Are you serious?" their leader shouted. "We outnumber you thirty to one."

"So, I would make those just about even odds," Ranma shouted back. "Let's make this interesting. For everyone who participates, every loser pays the winner five hundred yen. If I lose, I'll pay every last one of you five hundred yen. If I win, all of you owe me five hundred yen _each_."

"Ranma," Ukyo said with warning tones, but he waved the boy off.

"Don't worry, Ucchan," he said, grinning. "There isn't a single threat among them."

The crowd didn't deliberate much as they all saw yen in front of their eyes, payment for beating someone they all hated equally.

"You can't back out of that, _freshman_," their ringleader told him. "Or you're worse than dead."

"I never back out of man's agreement," Ranma responded, equally serious. "Ukyo, you stand back and don't get involved, even if they win."

"But, Ranchan," the boy said, his voice torn.

"No, I don't want you hurt," he said with his smile. "This is the best training I could possibly get without my pops here to train me."

He took one last scan of the crowd, assembling a threat list in his mind. _Start with the Kendo club. Hit the leader a few times, but don't go too hard. Save him for last, so the crowd doesn't disperse. Focus on disarming as many of the baseball club as possible, and then start work on the rest._

"Get him!" The command echoed through the yard, as a handful of the bravest moved down at Ranma, charging him with their weapons and fists raised. Ranma identified half the Kendo club, two baseball club members, and the ringleader and someone dressed like him. _S__umo club, _he thought, almost laughing at him.

The first attack turned out to be a fastball pitched by the baseball club's pitcher, which Ranma easily sidestepped with a minimal slide. The ball crashed into the perimeter wall, before falling to a stop. Two more came flying at him, but with half the velocity. He caught one and the other went wide.

The three members of the kendo club in full gear came at him next, three of them with their shinai raised. Ranma threw the baseball at the center one, causing him to stumble as the ball slammed into his chest, his body armor absorbing some of the attack, but not enough to prevent him attacking. The other two were distracted as he followed up the throw by jump-attacking the one on his right. Ranma's foot smashed into the tallest one's chest, sending him tumbling back. The third attacked with his shinai, but Ranma moved in too close at that point, grabbing him by the hands, and sending the butt of his weapon directly into the boy's stomach.

The one in the middle started to recover, but Ranma took the disarmed shinai from the last one he'd attacked and used it to attack him. The middle Kendo practitioner tried to block the attack, but his shinai shattered from the force of Ranma's swing, causing both weapons to splinter. Ranma tossed it at the sumo club members who were moving in to attack him, bouncing it off the ringleader's head. Disarmed, the final Kendo club member retreated.

Flanked by two baseball players on either side of him, and with a sumo wrestler in front of him, Ranma drew them in closer.

"Hey guys," he said loudly. "Think you'll fare any better than those three?"

In response, the two baseball players ran into attack, one with a homerun swing and the other attacking overhead like the Kendo players. Ranma ran forward at the sumo wrestler, leaped over the boy's outstretched arms and landed directly on his head. The other two boys swung their weapons, missing him as they ran into each other. Knocking the sumo wrestler backwards, Ranma flipped backwards with his rebounding momentum and kicked the one who had attacked him from the right with a homerun swing.

His feet connected with the boy's arms, causing him to drop his bat. The other one tried to swing at him during this, but Ranma recovered just in time. He pushed the boy's friend into the swing of the bat. Luckily for that player, his helmet absorbed a good amount of the swing, but not enough to prevent him from going down.

Picking up the bat, he nearly laughed at the expression of the player who had knocked down his friend, but he didn't have the time as he turned quickly. He took a step to the side and swung his bat, connecting with a fastball. The ball stung slightly as he hit it directly back at the pitcher, who dived out of the way to avoid the line drive. Pulling back away from the baseball player, he blocked the boy's third swing, and then kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into the perimeter wall.

At this time, several lacrosse players had decided it was time for their turn with the ringleader of the group charging down at him. He ran at them just as fast, redirecting his movement at the last second, causing the ringleader to fall directly past him, and the lacrosse players to smack the sumo wrestler with their sticks. Ranma tossed the bat at one of them, and then drilled the second with his fists. A third baseball came his way, but Ranma used the lacrosse player as a shield.

A half-dozen football players ran at him, one with his team's black and white ball in his hands, which caused Ranma to chuckle as he caught the last lacrosse player's stick and tugged it away. He snapped it over his knee, causing him to break ranks and flee. Both the sumo wrestler ringleader and his friend had recovered by this point, and attacked Ranma from behind as the soccer players leveled their deadly cleats at him.

Ranma tumbled out of the way at the last second, causing the confused lot to all run into each. The soccer players fared particularly poorly as their perfectly timed kicks all caused them to crash into a pile as the sumo wrestlers' leader and his buddy ran them over. By this time, Ranma had to dodge a fifth fast ball, which came about a millimeter from beaning him.

One of the Kendo club members, a baseball player with bat, and three from what Ranma could only guess was the track and field club, moved in to attack him next, but Ranma evaded them and bee-lined straight for the star pitcher.

_Don't hit his arms, _Ranma thought as he moved in toward the scared pitcher. Two baseballs came his way, which Ranma straight up deflected with his arms. The two players who had thrown the balls, likely the rest of the pitching rotation, backed up as he ran at them, smacking both of their faces into each other. The star pitcher ran as Ranma grabbed the whole bucket of baseballs that they had been using.

"How about this fastball?!" he yelled at the boy as he tossed the entire bucket at the kid. While the bucket didn't drill him with the force of a fastball, it did land on the boy's head, causing him to suddenly trip and hit the ground. "You're out!"

"No, you're out!" the ringleader yelled running into him from behind.

Ranma felt all two hundred pounds of the kid slam into him, causing both of them to go flying. Ranma grabbed the sumo wrestler by his shoulders, and slammed his foot into the ground before they landed, causing him to twist around to the top. He pushed off his sempai as he performed a backflip and landed on his feet. The sumo wrestler left a dirt trail in the grass as he skidded to a halt.

Ranma turned to the remaining attackers, most of whom had never even started fighting, but none of them seemed willing to step forward.

"I'll give you guys ten seconds to attack me before I call it a win for me," he called out. However, he received no more challenges.

Inhaling deeply, Ranma walked towards where Ukyo was holding his coat. The boy's mouth was agape with shock, his eyes wide.

"See? All good. And now I'm rich, too," he told Ukyo nonchalantly as he calmly took his jacket out of the boy's hands.

_Why did I ever doubt the awesomeness of school? _Ranma thought about it for the rest of the day.

* * *

Notes: This chapter was written in two sittings. One for the first two pages, and the remaining 7 were written Sunday night. If you can't tell, I had a lot of fun with Ranma this chapter. So did he. Let me know what you think of him in this chapter. He's really confident, and he demolishes folks. The fact that Ukyo gave him trouble really speaks for how good Ukyo really is. Ranma has always been a bit OP, and I think that's what works about him. When he finally encounters things or people he can't beat, it's really shocking, but you can't know how good he is until he takes out some good old fashion athletic club members in the school yard.

In terms of where the plot is going, that's still up in the air. I know the general goals, but I'm working on where I go from here. I'm planning some really good Ranma/Minako, Ranma/Rei and Ranma/? time in the future. I'm working on balancing the primary romance/friendship with that of adding to the character list, and keeping everyone in there and relevant.

What's in next chapter? You'll find I actually wrote about 9 or 10 pages of Ranma story on Sunday, and split off three pages for the next chapter. I'm probably going to switch to Rei/Ukyo for the next chapter, and then go back to Ranma's day to himself. If I get a whole bunch of reviews and PMs telling me to keep going with Ranma, I can do that, first. I just think it's more interesting if I switch POVs each chapter, but I don't have to.

See you next chapter! If you're ever curious about what I'm writing or where I'm currently at, just look at my profile. I try to update it every time I make progress with a story. Until next time!


	13. Chapter 13

Ranma heads out to explore Juuban on his own while his friends are busy with club practice. Between the brawl in the morning and the fight the day before, he feels up for a little R&R. However, destiny has its own say in the matter.

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Thirteen

"Lemon bread!"

_Do I even like that type?_ Ranma thought to himself as he rebounded off someone's shoulders, using the extra height to catch the packaged bread in his mouth before it reached the crowd underneath. He pulled his weight mid-jump, causing him to spin and land facing the breadline full of angry boys. Ignoring their angry glances, he held the three pieces of bread out before him, each a decent meal on its own. _Good haul._

"Spinach bread!"

"Have fun with that one, guys," Ranma bid the group in farewell.

"Get bent, Saotome," a random boy yelled at him.

He walked over to where Ukyo was eating his lunch that was a duplicate of what Rei had made for Ranma that morning. He sat at a table full of kids from both his class and others. Approaching the boy from the rear, he tapped the black-haired boy to Ukyo's left. He looked like one of the boys from the back of the class who smuggled manga in to read during lesson time. His expression changed as he stared Ranma in the face, as if another brawl was going to begin right then and there.

"Scoot over," Ranma told him.

The boy looked at Ukyo who turned his head back to look at Ranma. "It's fine, Shiba-kun. He's not going to fight me."

Shiba, for all the bravery he lacked, had looked ready to jump in on Ukyo's side.

"We're old friends," Ranma said as he sat in between the two. He gave Ukyo a wide smile after sitting down.

"Didn't Rei-chan make you a lunch?" Ukyo asked, questioning the three packaged breads that Ranma had placed on the table in front of him.

"Yeah, but I ate it in class," Ranma said, opening the first package of bread with his teeth. "Plus, this is free."

"It costs the respect of all the boys who you beat to it," Ukyo commented, rolling his eyes as he smiled. "And how the heck did you eat it in class? I sit right next to you, and I didn't even see you open your bag."

"Skills," was all Ranma had to say on the matter. "I could have gotten yours, too, if I wanted."

With a shake of his head, Ukyo sighed. "Rei is right, you know. You are impossible."

"Impossible, but rich," he said, putting a stack of five hundred yen coins down on the table. He then started eating the first bread he'd caught, curry bread.

"I've been meaning to ask," Ukyo started, pushing his lunch aside. "Have you done this before?"

Ranma looked up at his friend with a mouthful of curry bread. He curled an eyebrow at the question.

"You know, an army of classmates rising up against you? Calculating a way to turn it into a payday?" Ukyo clarified.

"Nah, I don't think any school is crazy enough to do it but this one," Ranma said in between mouthfuls. "I've bet on myself winning fights, but it usually works the first fight of the year. After that, no one bets against me."

"I wonder why," Ukyo laughed, and then took a bite of rice. "Rei really does cook a good lunch."

"I can't believe you guys get meals made by Hino-sama," whined a short upperclassman boy that sat across from the two of them.

"I know, so lucky!" Yoshida Haruhiko, the boy who sat to Ranma's left, exclaimed.

"She makes breakfast and dinner, too," Ranma told them after finishing his curry bread. He considered the lemon bread and the melon bread. "You want some bread?"

"No thanks, I don't have two stomachs," Ukyo said, taking the time to eat slowly. "How are you hungry after eating the lunch Rei prepared?"

"Driving those poles into the dirt was some serious work," Ranma told the boy. "Besides, there's always room for bread."

Class wound down slowly after lunch, as Ranma tried to focus on his studies. However, his mind kept dwelling on the brawl in schoolyard. The nurse's office must have been full as Ranma walked into class on time with Ukyo. Everyone had been watching from the window and they had all been staring at him once he'd entered. Their homeroom teacher hadn't even said a thing, and merely began class is if nothing had happened.

Given that Ranma had been careful to avoid breaking any of their bones, primarily just focusing on bruising them so they'd stay down or run away, he had still expected detention at the very least. Instead, he was walking out freely at the end of class. Ukyo excused himself to run off to archery club practice, so Ranma took his time, gathering his bag with his extra bread for the trip. With half of the kids from the morning brawl having already paid him out of fear of further humiliation, he also had a pocket full of cash.

_Game center? _he pondered to himself. _Ice cream? Or both? Decided._

Ranma wandered out of class, catching Rei as she walked across the street to her club practice with Ukyo. She smiled and waved at him.

"Hey there," she said, stopping on the street next to where he stood on the sidewalk. "How was your day?"

"Awesome," he said, grinning ear to ear. "I really like this school."

The pleasant smile on Rei's face showed her pleasure at his comments. "Good, then you won't mind staying here a while with your father gone."

"He'll crawl back when he's run out of money to gamble, or if he needs to get out of town in a hurry," Ranma told the beautiful girl. Her smile sent a shiver down his spine. He suddenly felt out of witty things to say. "Uh, so I was going to head to a game center somewhere. Know of one?"

"Uh, yeah, it's a bit far, but walkable," Rei informed him, and then began to animatedly use her hands to help describe the trip. "You go past the temple a few blocks up, hang a right on the street with the park, and then follow it until it reaches the public junior high school. After that it's a clear shot north up the street. It's not as nice as the place we met, but it has a game center, a little theater, and some restaurants and candy shops."

"Wow, you really know your directions," he told her afterward. "So hey, if you hear about a big brawl in front of the school, just know they started it."

"Huh?" Rei asked as he hopped away.

"See ya!"

"Wait, Ranma! What are you talking about?"

"Ask Ucchan!"

He jumped on everything along the way, keeping a rapid pace until he reached the elementary school. As usual he leaped up onto the wall, but found the yard mostly empty. The elementary school started earlier than his school, so the kids got out earlier. He shrugged and continued on his way back to the temple, walking on every fence, wall and large object on the way.

By the time he passed the temple, he was feeling a bit peckish. He walked a few more blocks until he saw the park that Rei had mentioned. It was an empty playground with garden walls surrounding the edges. The entrance on the west side of the plot opened in a metal archway, a vine of flowers wrapped through its frame.

He walked into the park looking for somewhere to sit and eat. Noticing several benches overlooking the sandbox in the center of the park, he moved in that direction slowly, observing the landscaping of the flower garden walls and the archways. There didn't seem to be any particular color the designer had intended to plant, as all manner of wild flowers filled the garden.

_This place is __pretty high end for some public park,_ he thought as he sat on the closest bench. It was then that he noticed the solitary girl sitting on the swing. She was reading a book, oblivious to his presence. _Hey, she looks like that girl from earlier._ He sat, staring at her for a moment, until she took notice.

The girl looked up, her bluish-purple eyes catching the light as she did. Her chin-length hair shifted as her head rose, revealing a cut on her forehead. She blinked in recognition, shutting her book. Staring at him expectantly, she opened her mouth as if to talk, but just sat there on the swing.

Ranma stood and walked towards her, to the edge of the sandbox. He waved his hand at her. She shyly waved back as she averted her eyes and blushed.

"Hi again," he said, stopping before walking onto the sand.

"Hi," she replied quietly. "You're the boy that walks on our wall every day."

Nodding, Ranma smiled, adjusting his bag to his other hand. "Yeah, that's me. And you're the girl that sits on the swing without actually swinging."

"No one can sit next to me when I'm on the swing," she explained, standing up. She wasn't very tall, and he re-estimated her age to be around nine or ten. "Why do you always walk on the wall?"

"Because I can," he replied, stopping to sit down on the top of the wall. "Jumping and balancing are good exercise, too."

The girl was wearing the school's seifuku, a white short-sleeved blouse, a black kerchief with white trim, and a knee length black skirt.

"Do they pick on you often?" he asked, idly kicking the wall as he looked down at her.

"How did you know?" the girl asked, frowning as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"The cut on your head," he told her, pointing at her forehead. "Bullies usually pick on kids who are alone."

"Oh," she replied, reaching up to cover her head. She pulled her hand back a second later. "Ouch."

"Here, let me help you with that," he told her, pulling a small first aid kit from his bag. It was a small painted wooden box with red cross etched into it. Upon opening it in class, he had found it contained adhesive bandages, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, some cotton swabs, and one larger bandage. He assumed that Rei must have put it in there after his second day of class had turned out to be so violent.

He took a step forward, but this caused her to take a step back against the swing. "Is that okay?"

She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, but eventually she nodded, her cheeks a bit pinker than before. Ranma walked up to the girl, whose delicate features looked scuffed as he drew closer. Someone must have pushed her down on the pavement. "Just hold still a second."

The girl flushed as Ranma took her chin with one hand, and then pushed her bangs back with the other. "Don't feel ashamed about being picked on." _Poor girl shouldn't feel embarrassed for being picked on. _He dabbed a cotton swab with hydrogen peroxide, and then reached up to her forehead. "This might sting a bit."

She was wide-eyed as he rubbed a cotton swab over the cut, but she didn't cry out. She stared at him with her large violet eyes. _The same color as Rei's. _He released her chin momentarily and pulled out an adhesive bandage. After removing both of the tabs covering the sticky side, he took her chin again, and then gently placed it against the cut.

"There, all better," he said as he lightly pressed against the bandage's edges to make sure it was sealed all around.

She blinked rapidly as he stepped back, the shadow cast by his body no longer blocking the sun from her eyes. He moved back to that spot, shading her again after noticing.

"Thank you," she said quietly, her bashful smile overcoming the forlorn look that had taken her face before.

_I can't stand bullies who __pick a_ _fight __with__ innocents, _Ranma thought as he admired his handiwork. Normally, he just threatened them or beat them up, but elementary school bullies always proved problematic, as he couldn't use those tactics without getting parents and teachers on his case. However, bluffing always proved the best tactic in his mind. "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl's eyes widened as she stuttered, "My... my..."

"I'm Saotome Ranma," he said, bowing his head.

She took a cautious step back as she answered him finally. "My name is Tomoe Hotaru."

"It's nice to meet you, Tomoe-san," he said, and then beamed a smile. "You hungry?"

Her eyes widened again as her mouth opened in wonder. "I..." She pursed her lips, her answer cut off.

"I got two kinds of bread here," he said, replacing the first aid kit, and then pulling out the packaged breads, showing them to her. "Which one you want? Lemon or melon?"

The girl blinked, and then said, "Lemon." It was the one thing she seemed sure enough to answer outside of her name.

"Really? Have you had it before?" he asked, holding it out for her to take. "It sounds kind of weird."

"It's sour," she said, taking the proffered bread. "But it's my favorite."

"I'm glad you chose that one," he said, chuckling. "I wasn't sure about it. I definitely prefer the melon bread."

The smile from her lips caught his attention as her entire face livened up. "It's a good thing I'm here, then."

Ranma walked over to the swing next to the one she had been sitting on and took a seat. "I haven't sat on one of these in years." He opened the melon bread, and then took a bite. The bread was a bit hard, but the powdered sugarcoating made it delicious anyway.

He took a few more before looking over at the girl. He had caught her staring. She shied her head away to closely examine her lemon bread.

"Tomoe-san," he started, kicking his legs out to start swinging. "Bullies only target you because they think you're weak. But I can tell you're not."

"I'm not strong," she confessed, joining him by kicking her legs out to begin momentum on the swing.

"I think you are," he told her with a mouth full of bread. "And I'm skilled at seeing who the strong and weak people are. It's part of my martial arts training."

"Do you know Kung Fu?" she asked him seriously, looking at him sideways while swinging and eating her sour lemon bread.

"Better," he said confidently.

"What's better than that?"

"Saotome Style Anything-Goes Martial Arts." Ranma kicked his legs harder, building to where he planned to jump.

"Can you teach me?" she asked, trying to match his speed.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. He realized he had never considered teaching someone else before. With the potentially long absence of his father, he had thought about nothing other than burning time with Rei and Ucchan, training, and maybe having fun here and there.

"Is it too hard?" she asked, swinging just as hard as him.

Ranma hit the peak of his swing, kicking his feet out so hard that he left the swing, his legs up at a ninety-degree angle. After a split second of floating upward with the momentum of his jump, he tucked his chest to his thighs, and then flipped backward. After the first spin, he twisted his roll, and completed a second roll while facing the other direction. When he landed on his feet at the edge of the sandbox, he was facing with his hands up in the air like a gymnast landing from a dismount.

"Whoa!" Hotaru yelled in response, her swinging momentum enough for a jump. "That was awesome, Saotome-san!"

"Your turn!" he called to her, clapping his hands together.

"No way!" she called back, beginning to slow her swinging. "I'll die!"

"I won't let you," he promised her. "If your jump is out of control, I'll catch you!"

"I don't know," she said with a kick of her legs. Her skirt ruffled in the wind as she kicked up so high, resuming her potential intent to follow through. "I'm scared."

"Being scared is okay!" he said, laughing a bit. "I've done things a lot scarier, and I'm still here, and I'm stronger than ever." He smacked his chest once with a closed fist. "The first thing you have to do is trust yourself, and know that you can do it. Then you have to trust me. I will not let you get hurt."

"Okay!" she yelled. With each kick, she put more into it, gaining confidence to perform the jump.

"One!" Ranma called out as she began to move forward on her next swing. "Two!" On the second one she pushed harder, swinging her legs up as high as she could. "Three!" She kicked her legs out and flew straight out, leaving the swing too early to get much height.

In the time it took his heart to beat, Ranma dove with his legs, projecting himself underneath her. She landed in his arms, the legs to his right shoulder, and her bottom landing on his stomach.

Hotaru laughed with all of her heart, the sound of it filling the empty little playground. She arched her head back, the sound of exhilaration and relief pouring out of her in that pure, lovely sound. Once Ranma caught his breath a moment later, he joined her, giggling with her.

She beamed at him as he sat up, her body sliding down into his lap. They laughed for a time, less than a minute, but longer than a moment. Even for the boy who could leap up and down a ten foot wall with little effort, sharing with a girl who probably had never even jumped higher than one does playing jump rope before, he felt it along with her.

"Nice jump," he told her.

As the girl inhaled deeply in an attempt to stop giggling, she looked him in the eyes, her chest heaving. The next second, she shot her arms around his neck and embraced him, pulling herself against him. Still fighting laughter, he heard the girl whisper, "Thank you."

The hug lasted a while longer, but it was honest as she held him tightly. He reciprocated awkwardly, wrapping his left arm around her middle, feeling a flush rise to his face.

"You're welcome, Tomoe-chan," he said. "That was your first step to being strong like me."

The girl pulled back, and then pushed herself up. Ranma helped her, lifting her with the hand on her waist. She dusted her skirt off and took a few steps, and then turned. "I still held onto my bread."

"I noticed," Ranma said, still sitting in the sand. "Good job!"

The girl smiled radiantly in response, when they both heard a car horn blare on the street outside the playground.

"That's my mom," she informed Ranma, as if it were the worst possible thing that it could occur.

"Then, I'll say farewell for now," he told her, standing up. "Were you serious about wanting to learn?"

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes distant with thought. A moment later, they focused on him and she nodded.

"You'll be my first student," he said, watching her pick up her bag underneath the bench he had sat upon earlier. "I don't know if I'm any good as a teacher."

"You're a good teacher," she said as if she knew it for a fact. "I trust you, Saotome-sensei."

"Well then, student," he said, bowing to her formally. "When are you able to begin your training?"

She hummed looking over shoulder when another honk resounded from the street. "Tomorrow?"

He smiled, and then nodded. "Tomorrow it is. Meet me at the Hikawa Shrine, okay?"

"Okay!" she called. "Bye-bye!"

"Bye, Tomoe-chan!"

The girl sped off down the path towards the western entrance that Ranma had entered from. He smiled after her. _Well, who knew I'd be teaching an elementary student to __be_ _confident in herself?_

After collecting his bag, Ranma left the playground as well, exiting onto the street to the north, which Rei had told him would lead to the public middle school. He walked a few more blocks until reaching Juuban Municipal Junior High School. He considered jumping up on the wall, but thought better of it as a wave of students came rushing out of the gate. It was one thing to show off to a bunch of primary school kids, but he didn't want to get on the radar of a neighboring school.

_That idol girl must go here,_ he thought as he remembered her wearing the same white-and-blue uniform that the girls at this school had on. The boys at the school wore a similar uniform to the one he had on, except theirs was darker. SAAS uniforms were blue, while the JMJHS ones were navy blue.

_Uniform designers really don't have much talent,_ he thought as he walked against the flow of the students, who moved around him as he walked down the center of the sidewalk. He jammed his hands into his pockets as he maneuvered through them. The tide turned in his favor as he cross the halfway point of the gate and started walking with the kids heading to the north.

As he took the next few steps, a shiver reached up Ranma's spine. _Brrr, it's not even cold. _He stopped, the sudden urge to look towards the front doors of the school delaying his urge to get to the game center. The doors to the middle school were propped open, where a group of six girls walked out, all of different ages from seventh grade to ninth. He shrugged after briefly scanning their faces. They were still a ways off, but he didn't think he recognized them.

Remembering the story some kid last year told him about what spontaneous shivers meant, Ranma rolled his eyes at the memory.

"It means déjà vu," the boy had told him in hushed tones in between classes. "It means your past selves are telling you that you saw something familiar. It could also be your future selves, warning you about something dangerous."

_Stupid nonsense stories,_ Ranma thought, scanning the incoming kids one more time before giving up and walking towards the area where Rei had promised a game center would be located.

More or less following the students heading in the same direction as him, the boy kept his hands in his pockets, paying more attention to not stepping on cracks in the street than anyone around him. Before long, he approached a shopping center some blocks away from the school. Banners, streamers and all sorts of Tanabata decorations filled it to the point where he had no clear line of sight.

A banner hung across both sides of the street announced that on Saturday during Tanabata, a giant festival would take place here. He walked underneath the banner, dodging the streamers hanging from it. Further into the plaza, poles hung over the street, creating a sheet of streamers, each with a different color and pattern. On the top of each was a ball-shaped decoration, some just two-tone globes, while others were more intricate hollow, paper spheres in many different colors. Below each, a circular streamer with matching designs blew in the light breeze.

Students and adults walked through them, giving the effect of pushing through tall grass in a field, except far more colorful. Through all of the decorations, he couldn't find the game center.

Spotting a pair of middle-school girls passing him from behind, he waved at them. "Hey, um, do either of you know where the game center is?"

The closest of the two nodded. The other one giggled, hiding her head. "The second building on the right."

Ranma waved and thanked them, and then found a two-story building, the bottom floor of which was named _Game Center Cro__wn_.

"Finally," he said as the doors slid open, revealing the temperature-controlled interior of the modern arcade. It had three rows of games, a wall of pachinko machines and pinball machines. Three boys from the middle school were playing on an arcade machine labeled _Street Fighter II, _while a middle school girl and an employee were playing a game named _Sailor V._

He found an empty machine named _Final Fight_, and stood in front of it. _Alright, let's try this one. _Ranma found the token machine and exchanged a number of yen for pocket full of tokens. He then walked over to _Final Fight_ and dropped his school bag by it. It had three locations to stand at, each signifying a different character. Choosing the character in the red sleeveless gi, he began his journey.

He played for a few minutes, using several tokens as the enemies pummeled him senseless.

"Stupid game," he remarked, after dying for a third time.

"So says the guy who walks into every enemy, doesn't perform combos or throws, and did not press the jump button once."

Ranma turned as his countdown to continue blinked steadily towards zero. He turned to face a familiar, baseball-cap-wearing girl from the shrine. Her long blond hair fell around her shoulders, not hiding under the cap this time. _What the hec__k did Rei say her name was again?_

"Let me show you," she said, putting a token into the center console, which caused her to take control of a barrel-chested man with a bandolier and green pants. As she grabbed the controls like an experienced gamer and starting smashing enemies left and right, the door opened to the game center, causing a gust of air to blow past the pair playing the game. The smell of peach moisturizer was refreshing to the air-conditioned smell of the game center.

The girl tossed enemies around, and then ran at them, jump kicking into them. Ranma observed her hand motions, and then placed another token into the side he had been using before.

"When you attack, press back to throw an enemy instead of attacking," she said after he took out a few enemies with combos. He copied her motions, knocking their enemies out. "Nice job!"

_Gah, what's her name? _Ranma thought, playing with her a few more minutes before getting bored with the repetitive gameplay.

"I didn't think idols had time to play in game centers," Ranma idly commented as he punched a thug in the face.

"Huh?" the girl asked, her voice surprised. "Me? Idol?"

"Yeah, the hat is hardly a disguise," he said, trying to steal a kill from her, but she leaped forward and smashed the guy in the face with a jump kick.

"You recognize me?" she asked, her voice full of wonder as she stopped playing the game.

"Well, yeah," he said, trying to pull her weight as another large wave of enemies started attacking them. She seemed to be too distracted by his recognition of her to bother to continue playing, so he gave up once his score went higher than hers. "My friend has your picture on her bedroom wall."

"The miko?" the idol asked, nervously adjusting her hat.

"Yeah, Rei," Ranma told her, scanning the games for something else to play. _Sailor V is open now. I'll play that while waiting for Street Fighter 2 to open up. _Having made up his mind to play the game Rei had recommended to him, he walked over to it. It was only one-player, so he popped a token in and began to play. It was a bit simpler than Final Fight, but he didn't have idols breathing down his neck.

However, she followed him, standing to his right as he began shooting little monsters with Sailor V's pistol. He glanced at her as she rested her shoulder against the _Sailor V _arcade cabinet.

"Did she point me out to you?" the girl asked after he was well into the first level.

"No, that's the funny thing," he replied, shooting a blue pterodactyl. "She didn't even recognize you with the hat off, despite being a huge fan of yours. I mean, I recognized you right away and I didn't know who you were until I saw your poster on Monday."

He missed her response, but was bored of this game already anyway. "You want to play it?"

She nodded, taking over his controls mid-game. He stuck around, watching her. Then he remembered something. _Her name had something to do with love._

"I'm pretty good at this game, but all the fans of the real-life Sailor V came in here and cleaned up my scores that I placed when it first came out six months ago." She bit her lip as she dodged enemies and shot them.

"Aino Minako," Ranma said a moment later as the name came to him.

"Huh?" she said as she continued playing _Sailor V_. "Don't say it too loud, unless you want a bunch of kids to crowd us."

"Sorry," he said, turning to look at _Street Fighter II_. Some new kids had taken the last ones place. _Gah, they don't even form a line or anything._

"Your friend said your name was Ranma, right?" she asked, and he nodded in confirmation.

"Saotome Ranma. Nice to meet 'cha."

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, Saotome-san." She sounded genuine.

_I thought she would be a pain in the butt to deal with, but she's surprisingly down to earth,_ he thought. _Unless she wants someth__ing._

"Are you sure you're an idol?" Ranma idly asked. "You seem too nice."

"Well, to be fair, I'm a new idol," she said quietly, as if she wasn't sure if he was complimenting her or insulting her. "I only started touring recently, and only got a break until my production team writes a new EP for me to sing."

"What's an EP?"

"Uh, I don't know what it actually means, but it's like an album with four or five songs." She stopped and turned to him. "Do you actually live at the Hikawa Shrine?" She turned to him after completing a level. Her pretty blue eyes fixed on him as he stood beside her.

"For now, yeah," he said, thinking about how the girl before him had almost fallen into the fire pit. He looked at the long, golden strands of her hair resting on her shoulders as she slaughtered her foes as _Sailor V_. "Rei's family and my father were friends when they were kids. I'm staying there while my father attends to some business.

"So you live here in Juuban?" he asked, watching her shoot some monster that looked like a little dragon in the game.

"Yep," she replied tilting her head as she jumped over a gap between buildings in the game. "Never left until I won Japanese Idol this year." She beat a level and cheered with a fist pump. No one seemed to notice, but you would not have been able to tell that from the red of her cheeks as she looked around.

"So, I'm guessing you come here a lot," Ranma said, making idle chatter as he watched her. "You seem to know all the games around here."

Minako turned to face him, blinked a few times, and then went back to the game. "Maybe." Her response sounded as non-committal as the word she chose. "I only just got back this week from a concert tour with the finalists of the show. I haven't had any time in months to go to a game center."

Ranma turned and noticed that Street Fighter was now empty. "Hey, you want to go play _Street Fighter II_ with me?"

"Alright," she said, abandoning her game of _Sailor V._ "I haven't played it before, so go easy on me."

"I haven't either," he told her, placing his stack of tokens on the game. "Oh, it's versus?"

She placed her stack of tokens on it as well, and they both began to play.

"A new challenger!" the game said as they chose players. Ranma chose what appeared to him as the same guy from Final Fight, but in a white outfit with a red bandana instead of a red outfit and no bandana. Minako chose a Chinese woman with a blue outfit.

After mashing buttons for the first round, Minako beat Ranma pretty squarely, only losing one punch's worth of health to his attacks. She flashed a smile at him after that round. The second round went in his favor as he figured out how to throw chi blasts at her.

"You're just spamming that attack," she complained after the round ended.

"Well, people can't really do that upside-down helicopter kick thing," he told her in response.

"They can't throw chi bolts either," she said, twisting her hat on her head as the next round started.

"That's what you think," Ranma retorted, learning an effective upper cut attack. "This game is kind of cool, if seriously unrealistic."

"Sailor V can do some of this stuff," she told him confidently, grinning as she took the lead.

"Have you seen her before?" Ranma asked, suddenly far more interested in the conversation than before. _Everyone _knows of Sailor V, the vigilante working with the police to stop crimes all around Tokyo, even someone as news-unwary as Ranma knew himself to be.

"Yeah, she was in Juuban a lot," the blond girl said as she clobbered him, and then bounced off the wall and clobbered him again, beating him 2 – 1.

"I win," she said with a smile, turning to him. "Have you seen her before?"

"Nah," Ranma said. "My pops and I haven't been to Tokyo for a few years before recently. I haven't heard about her fighting criminals anywhere else, not even blue pterodactyls."

Minako giggled, placing her elbow on the game cabinet and resting her head on it – she was short enough to pull it off. "Another game?"

"Yeah, I need to be able to tell Rei all about this so she stops making fun of me for never having played it before." He put in another token to initiate a second game. He chose the same character.

They fought two more rounds to a draw again, as Ranma's skill improved. In the middle of their third match, she made him lose his concentration.

"I have to ask about you and that white cat yesterday," she started. "Are you afraid of them or something?"

Ranma took an unintentional step back as she continued playing the game. He twitched as the memory of that persistent white cat that had chased him across the temple grounds filled his head, despite having suppressed it before. She peeked over at him, stopping her unmitigated assault on the character he was playing.

"I don't like them," Ranma told her neutrally, gaining control of the irrational response he'd had to the surprise question. "They're all claws and teeth hidden in fur. I can't see how anyone thinks they're cute."

"So, that's a yes," she said as the both of them continued the last round. She said much more quietly, "Means I win the bet."

Ranma ignored the line of dialog, preferring to think about other things. He forced the memory of her almost falling into the fire back into his head as a distraction. Despite his distance, he had managed to catch her before even her long hair had fallen into the flames. Although it occurred to him that he had moved quickly before, it wasn't until now that he realized how unlikely it seemed in retrospect.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," the idol told him, seeming to gauge his silence as embarrassment. "About the cats, that is. Not about beating you in this game twice in a row. That I'll be telling everyone."

Ranma cared about losing, but didn't want awful white and fluffy things bouncing around in his head. "Best of five?"

"Alright," Minako agreed.

They played on for a while, not talking as much as Ranma got more competitive, focusing on winning more than avoiding talking about cats. He won the next game decisively, but lost the fourth as his tokens ran out.

* * *

After they had played that, they each purchased beverages at the vending machines in the snack corner where two small tables were placed. They sat next to each other with their backs to the vending machines, facing the pachinko machines against the wall across from the entrance.

Ranma had purchased a box of orange juice and was merrily slurping it down, when she asked him a question that caused him to inhale a good bit of it. "So are you and the miko dating?" His reaction was to immediately begin coughing.

_He was surprised by that question,_ she thought as she turned to look at him.

"No," he managed to say between coughs. "She's my childhood friend. I don't really remember it, but we played together when we were little." He cleared his throat afterward.

"That's good to know," the blond girl said evenly, drinking her small can of coffee, which had become something of a habit since her schedule had become nearly unmanageable. "So you'll be at the temple tomorrow when I go for my reading?"

Ranma nodded. "I'll be busy, but drop by and say hi if you can."

_Yes! s_he thought. _Totally invited. _Her heartbeat picked up as she looked over at him. _He's the closest thing I have to a lead, not including the fire reader._

"He must be related to the princess," Artemis had told her after she had mentioned him saving her from the fire, and the real reason she had almost fallen in. "We might just have to follow him until something happens, since I can't get near him without him running away."

"He's not scared of _me_," she had told the alien cat. "I can watch him up close in disguise. As long as I change it up from time to time, he won't be any wiser."

_That had been the plan at least,_ she thought as she subtly watched him drink the rest of his orange juice. _Until he saw through my disguise. The only other person who had ever seen through it was Ace, but Ace..._

_Ace was Dark Kingdom__. _She finished her little can of coffee. _But Ranma is just so normal._

* * *

Notes: This chapter took me a very long time to write. I've been simultaneously writing Misery Loves Company chapters as well, in addition to having less time than normal to write due to my promotion at work (yay me!) and mother's day (yay moms!) and running a VtR campaign (yay blood suckers!). However, I'm going to give it my all to get the next chapter out this week in compensation for your patience!

Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I wasn't planning to write it originally, similarly to the Minako chapter previously, and also added the Minako POV at the end for fun. Let me know if you like where I'm taking the story so far, or if there's something I'm missing, or you just had a crazy random thought that might be cool. I can't guarantee that I'll use your feedback, but it may just spark an idea.

For those of you who are interested, I had no plans to include Hotaru in the story at all until someone mentioned that it might be a good idea for her to be an addition to the cast. Now she's going to be a primary supporting character for Ranma. That's how much your feedback counts to me. I read everything you say, so the more you say, the more I can reflect on my own writing and improve it and shape the story better.

I'm trying to build the lesser featured characters into the story more prominently, such as Hotaru. I don't plan for any of the other Outer senshi, but there will be one more inner senshi added before the fanfic is up (outside of cameos). BTW, how was Hotaru? I've never read/seen her in action before ever, as my knowledge is purely extrapolated from wikis and other fanfiction.

For those of you following Misery Loves Company as well, I've been doing significant rewriting on my old chapters, trying to get it to make more sense to me. A lot of the old fight scenes were really hard reads, I've noticed as I go back and reread them. I wrote most of this stuff 10 years ago, so it's really rough. The next batch is going through a complete overhaul and will take some more time. I should have that chapter done by this weekend though.

Thanks for reading! I truly love all the support I've gotten from this site. I'm happy I returned to fanfic writing and plan to continue for a long time to come.


	14. Chapter 14

With all that she has experienced in her short life to date, Ukyo moves towards balance as she confesses her sins to wash away her guilty conscience. This is yet another step on her trek on her road from childhood into adulthood without the trappings of anger and regrets of her lost youth.

* * *

**My Love's Flame  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Fourteen

Pulling up the long, sliding door to the east side of the kyūdō dojo, Kuonji Ukyo let the sunlight into the building at the same time that Saotome Ranma left class for the arcade. A cool, summer breeze calmed her as she mentally prepared herself to assist the club's instructor in this afternoon's practice. Two members of the club were already positioning _makiwara_, the straw mannequins that they would be using as target practice, about seven meters out from the edge of the dojo. The dojo was designed so that the _kyūdōka_, the practitioners of kyūdō, would stand at the edge of the dojo, and then fire at the targets in the field.

SAAS let its students out fifteen minutes earlier than the girls at TAS, so they would set up before the girls would arrive with the instructor Kihara Kaiya, who was a physical education teacher at the girls' school. The class contained nine students, five boys and four girls. Since there was only one locker room, the boys had to finish dressing in their uniforms before the girls arrived to maximize the efficiency of their preparation period. Both sexes dressed in a traditional kyūdō uniform, consisting of a standard _dogi _with a sash tying it closed, black _hakama_ pants and _tabi_, split-toed socks and sandals. Not all of the male club members were advanced enough to be using arrows yet, so only Ukyo and Shiba Kyuichi, Ukyo's sempai, wore deer-skin archery gloves called _yugake._

Although this was Ukyo's first year in the club, she quickly usurped the title of captain from Inihara Fumi, a ninth grade student of TAS, who was also the least popular member of the club. She had come into the role as the most senior club member, but Ukyo had partnered with Rei to elect a new leader after Inihara-taicho's teaching skills had been brought into question by even the new recruits and the second years alike. While she was an excellent shot, possibly one of the best in the junior league, and she had had adequate discipline to be a great performer, she had little patience for error, and even less for teaching.

During Ukyo's third club session, Inhara-taicho had threw a bow at one of other two new SASS students to join. He had been holding the rubber training bow incorrectly after she had corrected him earlier, and when she completely snapped. After pelting him with the bow, she cursed at him for a solid minute before Kihara-sensei had arrived. No one had spoken a word to the teacher at that point, but this trend had not been an isolated incident.

Despite her relative newness to the club, Ukyo had just advanced to firing live arrows at straw _makiwara_ by that time, far advanced beyond everyone but Shiba-sempai and Inihara-taicho, the only two club members to have been on the team the year before. When Kihara-sensei acknowledged the new election, Ukyo won with both Rei's support, as the miko had rallied all of the girls to Ukyo's side, and the support of Shiba-sempai as well, despite the fact that he had grade and experience seniority to her. She was now one of four that Kihara-sensei considered tournament-ready, including the two upper-classmen and Rei, and second to only Inihara-sempai in skill.

With great pride, Ukyo welcomed the girls who entered the club together with Kihara-sensei, but Rei did not enter with them. Inhara-sempai, no longer the captain of the club, glared at Ukyo as she always did upon entry. They all walked single-file into the dojo, directly to the locker room, except for the sensei, who was already wearing her traditional kimono uniform, signifying her status as the master of the dojo. While traditionally a kimono only implied being a senior member, no one in the club was experienced enough to wear such a mark of honor.

Kihara-sensei approached Ukyo, who bowed to her sensei. The older woman nodded. Her short gray hair was messy as usual, for the woman focused far more on the inner self than the outer.

"Kuonji-san, good to see that our schedule is not interfering with your dueling today," she said without masking her irritation.

Ukyo bowed at the waist in apology, answering her formally. "Forgive me, Kihara-sensei. An old and bitter feud pushed me to disgrace myself."

Kihara-sensei nodded again, her acceptance of the apology genuine. The woman was not known for holding back anything. As severe as she could be, she was also a graceful and gentle person when her students behaved in an orderly fashion.

"Our teachings must go beyond the _kyūdōjō, _Kuonji-san," the woman said, her melodic voice falling on the gentle side of her spectrum. "_Shin-zen-bi_, and by extension mastery of kyūdō, is only possible if its doctrines apply to every part of your life, not just your time here."

"Yes, sensei," Ukyo affirmed, her head still bowed. "I have already made peace with the boy who I fought before. I believe I can finally leave that part of me behind now."

"I am glad for that, student," she said, patting Ukyo's head with her bare left hand. "May the new you progress further in your journey towards truth, goodness and beauty."

"Thank you, sensei," Ukyo said quietly, her voice only loud enough for her teacher.

Rei sneaked into the room, putting her index finger to her lips as she walked quietly to the locker room.

"Hino-san," Kihara-sensei called on the girl, whom she could not see from where she stood.

"Yes, sensei?" Rei asked, her voice pitched in worry.

"You can help Kuonji-taicho clean the dojo after club practice has ended."

"Yes, sensei," Rei said, her voice resigned.

Ukyo smiled at the raven-haired girl, who dejectedly walked into the locker room. Just as she entered, the other girls emerged. Unlike their male counterparts, all of them wore deer-skin yugake gloves. Of them, all three were Ukyo's sempai, two eighth graders, and one ninth. Rei was the only seventh-grader in the group of girls from TAS.

In addition to the regular uniform, all of the girls wore a black chest protector over their dogi. Although Ukyo did not wear one, she hoped she would become skilled enough to not require one when her chest grew to the point where it mattered. Only the more senior female _kyūdōka _such as her sensei did not wear one.

Inihara Fumi approached the teacher and student and bowed. "Sensei." Her voice lowered, and her eye twitched as she then said, "_Captain_."

"Hello, Inihara-sempai," Ukyo told Fumi, trying to maintain as much diplomacy as she could to avoid pissing her upperclassman off.

The fifteen-year old rolled her eyes when Kihara-sensei turned her back to face the class. Ukyo tried to ignore the girl, but it was difficult when she complained and shrugged off everything Ukyo said. Despite the fact that Fumi was the most skilled in the class, possibly enough to compete against high school students, she had the attitude of a spoiled child. It had not come to a personal challenge yet, but Ukyo had been practicing as much as possible in case it ever came up. If nothing else, she had nerves of steel compared to her sempai with the awful temper.

"Kuonji-taicho will lead the club in warm up now," Kihara-sensei explained.

A ponytailed version of Rei joined the warm up and stretching late, putting her hands together and bowing her head at Ukyo, who nodded for her to join. The stretching took fifteen minutes, but was an essential part of their practice.

After stretches, the _kyūdōka _all collected their _yumi_ from the rack on the wall. Unlike western bows, the Japanese _yumi_ is asymmetrical, as the length of the bottom part of the bow is shorter than the top. They then all formed into two lines, one at the edge of the dojo, each person lining up in front of a straw _makiwara_.All of the students not ready for live bamboo arrows would practice drawing the bow to build their strength.

While Kinahara-sensei moved to help the less advanced students, Ukyo moved into the head of the archery practice line on the right. The six archers on the live range line would fire right to left, two at a time, one in the center and one at the end so that no one next to another would interfere with the other's shot. While waiting, the archers would meditate on their knees until their turn. Technique in between shots was equally as important as the shot. The discipline in _kyūdō _was what drew Ukyo this form of martial art, even if her father had ridiculed her for it when she had mentioned it to him.

Ukyo took her stance, emptying her mind of everything as she faced the target with the left side of her body, pointing her left foot at the target and drawing her other foot back so that they were the length of an arrow apart. She shifted her balance so that her pelvis and shoulders drew a straight line to her target, and then straightened her back and posture. With her posture correct, Ukyo moved to ready her bow.

Already holding an arrow from the start of her footwork, she began by taking the bowstring in her right hand, and then shifted her left hand to grip the handle of the bow. She then turned her head to gaze at the _makiwara_ in front of her. Despite its close proximity at seven meters, the idea was to practice technique more so than hitting a bull's-eye, as the straw doll had no center point markers. In this practice, hitting the center was worth as much weight as hitting the side. Only missing entirely was incorrect at this stage.

With the arrow in place, she raised the bow above her head, at which point she began to draw the arrow back, while also pulling the bow forward. She continued drawing the bow, maintaining all of her concentration on the technique. Once it hit the midway point, she began to slide it down until it reached cheek level, the feather of the arrow drawn back to her ear, achieving a full draw.

Ukyo fully exhaled at this point, her body as still as her arms could provide with the strain of the bow causing only slight tremors in her arms. Imagining the bow as a part of the straw target, she loosed the arrow, extending her right hand back as the bamboo left her gloved hand. The bow's energy propelled it forward, causing it to turn around in a two-hundred-and-seventy degree angle, until it stopped before hitting her forearm.

Her arrow struck her target cleanly in the center. She lowered her bow slowly, coming back from the concentration and allowing the world back in. Breathing in generously, she took a few steps back, and then carefully lowered herself to her knees, giving her turn over to Rei who would repeat the process that Ukyo had just performed.

The practice did not run long as they repeated the maneuvers until they exhausted their arrows. Once finished, they collected them from the targets. While there, Rei turned to her friend. This was the only point that Kihara-sensei would allow any form of talking, as they had technically finished the round.

"I really admire your form, Ukyo-kun," she said, her face flushed and glistening with sweat. Her hair was damp at the root end of her hair. Her smile showed teeth as she beamed at her captain.

"Thank you, Rei-chan," she replied. "I'm sure your form is at least as good."

"Hah, no," Rei said, yanking her arrows from the straw _makiwara_. "I can never remember the right order for the footwork, and on my second arrow, I started drawing before I straightened my back. I'm surprised you didn't hear the string slapping my chest protector."

Ukyo chuckled under her breath, forcing her lips into a closed-mouth smile.

At the end of club practice, once everyone had put away their bows, the boys moved into the locker room to change first, while the girls brought the _makiwara_ into the storage shed. Ukyo watched them as she stood in the center of the dojo. Rather than change with the boys, she moved to examine the bowstrings for wear and tear, and spent the next few minutes replacing the ones that had been damaged by practice. By then, the girls were entering the locker room.

"Bye, Captain!" Shiba-san called out, waving to the girl sitting on the dojo floor, restringing a bow.

Ukyo nodded at her sempai as she pulled the taut wood, bending it into shape. The remaining boys left, excluding their newest member.

"Kuonji-taicho," the heart-faced boy said with a respectful bow, causing his long hair to spill down from his shoulders. "Do you mind if I practice more with the bow? Just until you close up? I really want to be able to shoot like you."

Ukyo rose and walked to the rack, replacing the _yumi_ she had finished restringing. "I admire your tenacity, but you should rest for the day. There will be practice tomorrow as well."

From the look on his face, Ukyo guessed he did not like the answer. He pouted through his nod, and left the dojo, kicking his feet.

Inihara Fumi was the first to exit the locker rooms, and she walked directly up to Ukyo, who braced for whatever insults the girl had ready for her today.

"Kuonji-_taicho_," she said, acknowledging her captain with about as much venom as she could place in the emphasis of her honorific. "You led warmups splendidly. If only that's all you had to do, you would be the best kyūdō archer of all time."

Keeping her mood in check, Ukyo focused on the truth, goodness and beauty she had practiced all day. _ Shin-zen-bi, _she repeated in her head._ Empty the mind._

"You're too kind, Inihara-sempai," she replied afterward, even managing a smile. "I'll try to apply that skill all around."

"You do that," Fumi said curtly, her glare sharpened by spite. "One day, Kuonji-tachi. One day."

Ukyo kept silent as the girl departed after the other two girls that had left before, echoing her unsaid threat once more before putting on her shows and exiting the dojo.

Rei poked her head out right afterward. She had wisely avoided the conflict altogether. No one, not even Rei wanted to be on that girl's grudge list. _I don't blame Rei at all. She's a mean one. Though I'm glad Fumi doesn't really have many friends._

In Rei's hands, she held two brooms.

"Shall we start sweeping?" The girl beamed a smile at Ukyo, her mood brightening Ukyo's even after the awful run in with Inihara-sempai. She offered a broom to her. "I have so much to do at the temple tonight for Tanabata."

"Yeah, let's do it," Ukyo said, taking the proffered cleaning instrument. "Each take half?"

"I bet I get my half done faster than you!" Rei said, half-jokingly as she began madly sweeping the north side of the dojo.

"Ranchan is rubbing off on you," Ukyo teased, moving to the south side.

"Oh no, why would you say that?" Rei asked, frowning as she pushed herself to sweep her first dust pile out the archery range. The expression broke as she looked up, her serious mood defusing. A grin poked out as she made fun of Ranma. "Does everything I do embarrass you?"

Ukyo chortled, nearly spitting all over the dojo floor as she laughed, but she managed to put her hand up to cover it. "No, no! Nothing so terrible. It's just, that's what he does. He makes everything into a competition, even if he's terrible at it. Then he gets better than you, and rubs your nose in it."

"Well, I wasn't going to rub your nose in the dirt," Rei said, smirking as she kept up her brushing pace. "But I might have to if you aren't even half as far done as I am when I finish."

"I won't let you lap me so easily!" Ukyo exclaimed, pushing herself to catch up.

They laughed together as they kept their sweeping at a furious pace.

Ukyo paused as she thought about the boy, her mind lingering on her shared childhood with Ranma. Everything afterward made those memories so warm and pleasant, that she lost herself a bit. "He tries so hard to win at everything, and he never lets you win just because you're..."

Rei noticed the sudden stop in her voice, and looked up at her. "What?"

"Well, he just never patronizes you by letting you win, even if you're not nearly as good," Ukyo corrected, biting her lip. _Why am I hiding from her? _she thought as she swept out a pile of dirt.

"What were you going to say?" Rei asked, stopping by the bow rack, resting her chin on the broom stick. "You were going to say something else."

_She's so perceptive,_ Ukyo thought as she kept sweeping, trying not to shake at the thought of being found out. _She'll pick up on it sooner __rather __than later, and I need her in my corner. It'll make it easier on Ranma, too._

"Rei-chan, if I told you something bad," the girl-disguised-as-the-boy started, unable to hide the vulnerability in her voice. Her heart skipped a beat as she continued. "Something that would be enough to get me expelled from school, something that might make you think I'm a bad person, would you still be my friend?"

The girl in the seifuku thoughtfully looked back at Ukyo, her consideration over the question genuine. It made Ukyo feel all the better for deciding to tell her.

"Yes," Rei said, sweeping the last section of the dojo on her side, and then continuing onto Ukyo's.

"Okay, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for months," Ukyo said quietly as she too continued sweeping. "I'll tell you in the locker room after we finish."

"Okay," Rei replied.

The last minute of sweeping was quiet except for their brooms brushing the last bits of sand and dirt from the dojo. They then moved to opposite sides of the open east end of the dojo, grabbing the sliding door, and pulling it shut. Ukyo then walked along its length and pushed the locks into place so that it could not be opened from the outside.

With their job done, Ukyo and Rei moved to the locker rooms, where they put the brooms away in the supply closet. From there, Ukyo motioned for the girl to follow her to where her locker was located. She opened it and pulled out her uniform, placing it on the bench in front of her. She sucked in a nervous breath as she looked up at the girl who was staring at her.

"Okay, what is so bad that you can't even tell me in the empty dojo?" Rei asked, turning her back to Ukyo.

"Please face me, Rei-chan," Ukyo asked, her heart beating so fast she could barely catch her breath. "This is something that you have to see."

Rei did as she was asked, turning around with a curious expression on her face. "Okay?"

"This is something that only my father and Ranma know," Ukyo said, inhaling deeply in an attempt to calm herself.

"If Ranma-kun can handle it, I can," Rei told her putting her hands on her hips.

"Alright, please don't freak out," Ukyo said, pushing her _hakama_ pants down suddenly.

"_What?!_" Rei said, her face turning red suddenly. She averted her eyes. "Why are you undressing?"

Ukyo removed the garment, and then folded it neatly and placed it in the locker. "It's the thing I've been hiding."

"I don't want to see the _thing_ you've been hiding!" Rei said, her face flushing fully as she turned. "You've been hiding that you're a _hentai_?"

"No!" Ukyo exclaimed, pulling at her sash to loosen the knot. "That's not it at all. Rei-chan, please turn back around."

"I don't want to see you naked," Rei said, her hands held high up to cover her face, despite the fact that she was turned around.

"That's not what this is," she said. "I've been hiding something from you since we've met, from everyone but Ranma. He only knows because he knew me back before I had to hide who I truly am."

Pulling open her dogi, she placed it on the hanger in her locker. She then lifted her arms, and tugged off her undershirt, leaving only the tight bandages underneath. "This is important."

The girl slowly turned around, her hands against her eyes. "Promise you're not going to flash me your _thing _or anything like that? I don't think I could ever look at you the same again."

"I wouldn't do that to you, even if I could," Ukyo said, trembling as she stood, nearly topless in her boxer shorts. "Please look at me."

"Alright, I'll trust you," Rei said, her face still piping hot with embarrassment. She slid one eye open, and then the other, her face quickly changing to one of concern. "Wait, why are you wearing a bandage over your chest?"

Ukyo felt giddy as she tugged at the end of the bandage, causing it to unravel. After it fell to the floor, she stood in front of the girl topless.

"Huh?" Rei asked, her confused expression. "Wait... you're a...?"

The sudden clatter of something out in the dojo caught both of their attention. Ukyo quickly covered her chest with her arms, and then hid behind the locker door.

"Who's there?" Rei demanded. She turned and ran out into the dojo. As Ukyo was quickly dressing in her school uniform, the girl returned. "No one was there, but half of the bows fell off the rack."

The only thing that Ukyo felt was mortification. She quickly dressed as her arms trembled at the very thought of being caught.

"Hey, hey," Rei said, walking up to the girl. She put her hand on Ukyo's arm. "It's okay, Ukyo-kun. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."

The warm hand against her skin reassured Ukyo as she tried to button her shirt up. However, her hands were shaking too badly. "I—I can't..."

"Let me do that," Rei said, helping her with the buttons. "Really, I thought you were a leper or a burn victim for a bit there, and yet you're healthy and well. There wasn't anyone out there, and your secret is safe with me."

Still unable to get control over her nerves, she held her arms to her chest. "Thanks."

Rei pulled her into a hug. "You're like a brother to me. Just because you're a girl doesn't change how I feel about you." She then pulled back and wiped away the tears Ukyo hadn't even remembered shedding. "Although I feel weird about having a crush on you the first week of club."

The thought caused Ukyo to laugh out loud, her lips curving into a smile directly afterward. "Really? You _liked _me?"

"Well, up until I realized you didn't feel the same," Rei told her, averting her eyes. "You were so cool when you started training, pushing harder than everyone else combined. I really admire you, Ukyo-kun. You're strong, but not a braggart, unlike _someone_ we know."

"Well, he's not that bad," Ukyo said, grabbing her pants from the locker, and then slipping a leg into them.

"Wait, so Ranma knows you're a girl?" Rei said in wonder as she looked up, her brow furrowed.

"We were engaged as kids," Ukyo admitted, buckling her slacks.

"_What?!_" Rei exclaimed wide-eyed as she took a step back. "You're engaged?! To Ranma?!"

"No, not anymore," Ukyo said, regaining some of her composure. She slipped into her jacket, buckling it up to hide her chest entirely as she was no longer wearing her bandage. "His father took off with my dowry and left me behind."

Her jaw dropped as she stared at Ukyo. "And you _forgav__e _him?!"

"Not Ranma's father," Ukyo said vehemently. "But Ranma was just six, and he doesn't even seem to remember the engagement at all. He just thinks his pops stole my father's cart."

"You wanting revenge makes so much more sense now," Rei said, collecting her bag from her locker on the other side of the room. Out of sight, her voice still rang out clearly. "Though I still don't get why you're pretending to be a boy."

Collecting her bag as well, Ukyo closed her locker. "Well, that's a bit of a long story, and you need to get home."

Rei didn't respond at first as Ukyo heard a locker slam shut. "You can come with me again tonight."

"My dad will be pissed if I don't come home tonight," Ukyo replied, wishing beyond anything else in her entire life not to have to go home.

"Oh," she told the girl as she popped back into view. "Well, I'll walk you to your bike, and you tell me as much as you can on the way."

As they began to replace the bows back on the rack, Ukyo began. "After Ranma left with our _yattai_, my father fell on hard times, and I was ostracized at school and in the community. My father had made a big deal about arranging my marriage..."

"You mean pawning you off to some wandering martial artist?" Rei interrupted, her voice filled with more anger than Ukyo even felt anymore. The cross-dressing schoolgirl smiled at her friend's empathetic nature.

"Yes, pawning me off to the family of the first boy I got along with," Ukyo amended as she replaced the last _bows _on the rack.

"I can't believe he did that to you at _six-years-old!" _Rei fumed, as they walked to the exit of the dojo.

"I didn't even see it that way until after I lost to Ranma, and forgave him," Ukyo said, her eyes a bit watery. She wiped her face before they found slipped into their shoes at the entrance of the _kyūdōjō._, She then cast a sidways glance at a coat rack with several boys jackets hanging off it. _Had then been there before? _She shrugged.

After she fished the key to the dojo out of her pocket, she locked the entrance. "In the following years, I swore vengeance against the Saotomes, and then swore away my womanhood until I could avenge myself. I trained for years so that when I met up with Ranma and his father again, I could beat them and regain my honor."

Rei no longer had any comments as the two walked across the empty field towards the front of the school, where the bike racks were located. She seemed to listen carefully as Ukyo tried to tell her the quick version of her life story. She owed that much to the girl, at least.

"How does everything else fit in? Kyūdō, baseball, et cetera?"

Ukyo inhaled deeply and tried her best to explain it simply. "I mostly just joined two clubs to not have to go home, and then got a part-time job for the weekends to save money. After my father lost his last job two years ago, he took to drinking and really started getting invested in my vow to throw away my womanhood. Before, I'd still be normal at home, but he started punishing me for acting girly at home. He even shaved my head before I started coming here."

Rei placed her hand on Ukyo's shoulder. "He shaved off your _hair?_" When the girl turned to look at her, she saw real anger in Rei's eyes.

"Yeah, but it's just hair," Ukyo said, pushing a hand through the back of her full head of hair. "It grows back."

"But, that's just so wrong," Rei replied. "I'd never forgive anyone who did that to me."

They reached Ukyo's bike, one of two still chained to the bike rack near the school entrance. Rei surprised her at that moment, pulling her into a hug. Ukyo closed her eyes and hugged the raven-haired girl back, feeling the unease still in her fly away.

"I will support you however I can," Rei promised as she pulled back, staring directly into Ukyo's eyes. "If you need anything, _anything,_ I want you to come to me first. I'll drop whatever I'm doing."

Ukyo laughed at her seriousness. In response, Rei put her hand on Ukyo's shoulder and squeezed. "I'm serious, Ukyo-kun. I know you're really strong, but there has to be things that even you can't handle."

"Alright, Rei-chan," Ukyo said, putting her arm atop her friends, and resting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "I really owe you one."

Rei shook her head, scoffing at that. "We're friends, and that means we stick together through thick and thin."

As Ukyo rode her bike home she smiled the whole way.

* * *

Minutes after the two _girls_ exited the dojo, Tsubasa Kurenai slipped out of his handmade coat rack costume, which he had designed especially for hiding at school. While his goal had been to hide in the dojo to practice for an extra hour after everyone had left, he had discovered something that changed everything.

"I can't believe it!" he said aloud, his eyes shiny with admiration. The sight of her in the locker room had stunned him beyond anything else in his short life. "She's better at being a boy than boys are! I think...I think I'm in love!"

* * *

Notes: I have now put everything in place that I need to in order to crank up the silly misunderstandings now that Ranma is still in the dark about Ukyo, and Rei isn't. This will be fun for the next chapter or two.

On the bright side of things, I now have three beta readers (1 editor, 2 content reviewers), and they've already helped me tremendously. You're not reading a text book of kyūdō information because of this, and a lot more.

Again, let me know what you think of the chapter, characterizations, or just in general, or if you have an idea for anything. I read every review and PM and love feedback, whether negative or positive, or somewhere in between, even if it's just a "yay love it!" comment. If my writing ability was a race car, your feedback is the fuel!

Next Chapter is a Rei chapter, so be prepared for some more Ranma/Rei time!


	15. Chapter 15

Love and fire collide as the fate of the sleepers is to relive their past in their future. Hino Rei, the child of fire walked along her path alone until that afternoon when Ranma crashed into her. Now she holds her hand out to the boy to join her path with his, but will he take it?

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Fifteen

The bright summer sun warmed Rei's body as she watched Ukyo depart out of the front gates of the school on her bike. The miko stared at the empty gates for a moment before sitting at the base of the _SAAS_ entrance stairway on the third step, resting her legs against the bottom two. Her long hair pooled in her lap as she looked down at her hands. Her fingers were still red from firing bows for over an hour.

_What a day,_ she thought to herself, still reeling from Ukyo's revelation. _I can't believe I never figured it out._ After spending so much time practicing and hanging out with Ukyo since they joined the kyūdō club, she had never guessed that Ukyo wasn't a boy.

In the end, Rei only learned of it because of Ranma. She frowned. _Everything comes back to him. Would Ukyo have ever told me if he hadn't come along?_

Even after months upon months of pushing for Ukyo to open up, the little she'd got was that her father was a verbally abusive drunk, who couldn't keep steady work, forcing Ukyo to chip in to help pay rent._ Had I been her, would I have done so well in my life?_

Rei went over the girl's achievements in her head. Ukyo had infiltrated an all-boys school leaving none the wiser, become the undisputed champion of downtrodden boys by standing up to the school's numerous bullies, and had stolen numerous hearts over at the all-girls schoolsimply by being herself. It took someone extraordinary to do even one of those things, let alone all of them.

_And if she gets found out, she __would_ _be expelled,_ Rei realized, putting her hands up to her face. Ukyo's only solace in life was the school and her friends. Rei couldn't imagine what the girl would do if she was expelled.

Rei inhaled deeply, and then sighed out loud, though it didn't seem to help with the load of stress that had just been dumped on her.

"Something wrong, Rei-chan?" someone asked from behind the girl, startling her.

Rei stood and turned to see her cousin, Hino Inori coming down the stairs from the school entrance. Shaking her head at the woman, the miko smiled as brightly as she could.

"Were you waiting for me?" Iori asked, her return smile a lovely sight.

"No, but I'm glad I ran into you by accident," Rei told her as the woman walked down the remaining steps to her.

Rei bowed to the young woman, who ignored that and embraced her younger cousin.

"You rarely visit me anymore!" the secretary exclaimed, rubbing Rei's back. "I miss you."

_With a greeting like that, you wonder why?_ Rei thought, unable to put herself through being bear-hugged by her cousin in front of a dozen _SAAS_ students. There'd inevitably be a photography club member nearby that'd sell the pictures the next day.

"It's good to see you, too," Rei responded, hugging the woman back. "I've had a long day."

Iori released the girl, and then slipped her arm around the girl's back. "Then let your elder cousin treat you to ice cream while you tell me all about it. It's about Saotome Ranma-kun, isn't it? That boy really is kind of a heartthrob."

Blushing at the thought of her cousin calling a student a heartthrob, Rei just shook her head. "No, not really. I mean, he's a part of it. I've known him for less than a week, and he's kind of inserted himself in every part of my life."

"You make it sound so _ecchi_," Iori said, waving her hand.

"That's gross," Rei complained, lightly jabbing her cousin with her elbow.

"Well, I'm glad you think so," the woman replied, giggling until they reached the gate. She then looked down at her little cousin and squeezed her shoulder. "So, ice cream and girl time before you go home?"

Nodding, she accepted the invitation. "It'll be nice to do something before having to set up for Tanabata."

"Oh, that's right, it's almost that time already!" the woman said aloud, taking long steps that Rei could barely keep up with. "I haven't even been to the shopping district this week, so I haven't seen any of the decorations."

"I haven't gone to look since last Saturday when I went shopping," Rei said. _That's when I bumped into Ranma._

"Yeah, they don't usually start until the week of Tanabata," Iori said. "I'll come by the temple on Saturday as usual. I bought a really cute new yukata for the occasion."

The Hino cousins chatted about old memories for a while as they walked to the nearest sweets shop, which served ice cream until evening. Iori had an incredible memory for details, so when she reminisced, the details had a tendency to be pretty intricate.

"You cried over that spilt ice cream cone nonstop," she told Rei. "You were totally inconsolable. There was a smudge of rocky road on your nose, and tears and snot running down your face, and I didn't have enough money for another cone. I offered you my vanilla one, but you didn't want it."

Iori stopped chuckling over the memory, drying her eyes. "So I pretended to drop the full scoop of ice cream off my cone and directly onto my shoe. I made a big fuss about it, and you started laughing."

"I don't remember that at all," Rei admitted as they walked into the sweets shop. They found a booth and sat across from each other. _I'm just glad we're not talking about Ranma._

"I'm not surprised," the woman said, her smile radiant. "You were what, six-years-old? I was your age then, and thought I was doing a terrible job as a babysitter."

"You were my favorite," Rei said quickly, planting her hand firmly on the table. "You shouldn't think that at all. I would get so excited to see you. I thought you were the coolest person in the world."

"Still am the coolest," she said with a laugh. She then took a menu from the rack on the wall. "Okay, get whatever you want. I have a seven-year-old debt that needs repaying."

"Come on, you've bought me sweets lots of times since then," Rei shot back, relaxing into her seat. She didn't need to pull out a menu.

"It doesn't count unless it's declared beforehand."

_Why do I ever take her seriously?_ Rei thought, exasperated. "We're family. There's no need to balance any scales with me. I'll love you no matter what."

"Ahhh," Iori said after a moment, blinking to clear her eyes. "Got me all misty-eyed there. Thank you, sweetheart. I love you, too. But kissing up to me isn't going to make me forget why we're here."

"Huh?" Rei said, feigning ignorance.

A waitress walked up to take their orders, sparing Rei the boys talk another minute.

"So, I'll have a banana split, and my sweet cousin here will have a hot fudge sundae."

_She remembered? I don't even remember the last time we came..._ Then she did remember. Rei hadn't been here since after the funeral, when Iori had tried anything to get the girl's mind off losing her mother. She had been staying with her aunt's family since her mother had passed, and did so until her father had found another place for her to stay that wasn't near his.

The waitress left, and then Iori stared at her intensely. "So spill it."

"What?" Rei asked, resting her chin in her hands. "My ice cream?"

"Funny. No, you're living with a cute boy, and you have to ask what I want to know about?" Iori shook her head. "I thought you could read the future."

Rei shook her head. "I just read people, not the future."

"Sure," she said, grinning. "But I'm still not hearing any spilling."

"So we live together," Rei acknowledged, looking out the window. The sun was starting to set, reminding her of her first sunset with Ranma. "He's nice, but he's conceited, and doesn't really care what other people think of him. He's really good at stress-testing the boundaries of my patience."

"Oh ho," the woman said with a wide smile that seemed to look a bit predatory. "What about accidents? Did you walk in on him in the shower yet? Maybe catch him dressing?"

Unsure how to answer the question, Rei imagined Ranma as he was in the morning, without his shirt on and his jacket on top. Every time she closed her eyes she'd see it clearly in her mind. Then she also remembered the time she had walked in on him in the bathroom after he had recovered from her bokken attack and had been wearing just a towel.

"Oh, that's a yes," Iori said, her voice excited.

"No!" Rei exclaimed a bit loud for her liking, and felt even more embarrassed. "Okay, maybe a few times, but it's not like that. He just has an aversion to shirts, and he doesn't have much modesty."

Iori's eyes opened wide. "I'm jealous. Why didn't I get a live in boyfriend when I was a JC? That's so unfair."

The waitress came back with their desserts, and Iori squealed while rapidly clapping her hands together in delight.

"You're such a kid," Rei said as she dipped her spoon into the hot fudge sundae, mixing its contents until it was one color.

"And you're such an old granny," Iori replied after recovering from a series of large bites.

"Don't repeat this to anyone," Rei said as she stared down at her sundae. Her face felt warm as she looked up at her cousin, who was staring at her with all of her attention. "But he's really sweet, and I think I might be starting to fall for him."

"I knew it!" Iori exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Rei looked around trying to sink lower into her seat as her cousin continued. "I could tell, even two days ago. You should confess to him, let him know you care so no one else worms their way into his heart before you claim him."

"You realize I'm thirteen, right?" Rei asked, not so sure that Iori wasn't living vicariously through her.

"A hundred years ago, you'd be betrothed or married by thirteen," the woman replied evenly. "So, don't let your age get in the way of your heart. Go for what you want if it's in your reach."

They talked for several hours at the ice cream parlor until they started to get hungry again. Iori excused herself after that, and then Rei left as well. The walk home felt longer than usual without the constant presence of the boy who had not left her side until today. As she passed the elementary school, she habitually looked up to the top of the wall, as if she had expected Ranma to just be there.

_How can someone so new to my life change me this much?_ she asked herself, as her heart picked up, causing her to stop at the base of the stairs to the Hikawa Shrine to catch her breath. Anxiety stirred her grumbling stomach as she looked past the sign to the gates of her temple. _Great, now I get nervous coming home._

After Ukyo's confession earlier that evening at the end of her club practice and talking with her cousin for hours, Rei had begun walking home on a high note. Now that she had been alone for the last half-hour walking home from class, she was doing a fine job over-thinking the whole situation. One piece of information stuck out as she took her first step up the temple stairs.

_Ranma already knew about Ukyo being a girl_.She realized for the first time what that could mean, even though Ukyo had told her hours ago. _He didn't realize that Ukyo's father and his arranged their ma__rriage, even if it was a scam. That means..._

"They're still technically engaged," Rei said aloud, and even then it didn't sound real. She bit her lip as she walked under the shrine's sign. _I wish I had that kind of __right__ to him._

A gust of wind from the south blew across her out of the blue, causing her clothing and hair to get pushed up. The freak wind died down almost immediately. She disregarded that thought as she approached the unusually dark temple.

_Am I petty_,_ being jealous of my best friend? _she thought to herself, taking in another deep breath. _Who am I to be jealous of Ranma, anyway? He hasn't even shown the slightest bit of interest in me outside of being buddies. Though, he treats Ukyo the same way, so..._

Interrupting her own thoughts, Rei slapped herself. "Get out of your head, baka."

Moonlight drifted through the clouds above, but there were next to no stars out, casting a long darkness over the exterior of the temple. The lamp posts at the base of the stairs were the closest light, and their reach ended just before the gates of the temple, which Rei approached cautiously. Except for the sliver of moonlight filtering in through the clouds, the entire temple was pitch black.

"Grandfather? Ranma-kun? Why are the lights off?" she called out, her voice echoing through the courtyard.

Her eyes fought to see anything as she took a hesitant step in. Even having lived in the temple for years, she still wasn't able to comfortably enter it blind. _Great, just what I need, to trip on all of the random decoration__s and things lying around._

She entered into the temple, keeping to the stone walkway that she hoped would be clear of debris. As she hesitantly took a few more steps in, small white string lights illuminated the ground around the stone steps down the center of the temple grounds that led to the shrine. In the faint light, she could see that her way was clear, despite it having been a mess in the morning.

_Did Ranma finish all of the preparations tonight? _she wondered as she followed the pathway.

"Did the power go out, Grandfather?" she asked out loud, still not able to see much past the path and the dim sides of the booths that Ranma must have finished putting together while she was wasting time with her cousin.

_Okay, now they're just messing with me, _Rei guessed as she neared the temple. Just as she did, lights behind her caught her attention: the paper lanterns strung over the vendor stalls that were all distributed evenly down the whole path, in addition to dozens of their Tanabata decorations hanging from each of the stalls like UFOs with confetti attached to the bottom.

_When did they have time to finish all of this? _Rei soaked in the sight from her position standing just before the entrance to the temple. In addition to completing the hanging of the lanterns from this morning, the boy had also constructed the booths in record time, decorating them with a mixture of streamers; some from their shed had been used many times over the years, though a few of the prettier pieces looked new. One in particular caught her eye, a silver-and-gold metallic paper bell hanging from the nearest, a myriad of streamers dangling from its base like charms.

She also realized he had strung more holiday lights through the booths and the decorations, causing some of the decorations to appear to glow. The attention to detail really stood out to the girl as she wandered over to see a pink paper heart with silver streamers hanging from it, which had been hung under the nearest paper lantern. On it read, "I love you, Mom! Hino Rei 1987" in silver sparkles.

Touching it with the tip of her finger, she pushed it gently, causing it to swing back and forth on its string. She sucked in a breath, fighting a sob at the memory that flashed _**in**_ through her head, of sitting on her mother's lap in a child-sized yukata when she had delivered the present to her. A tear slid down her cheek as she took another breath to calm herself.

"Where on earth did he find it?" she asked aloud, the sound of her voice tickling her ears against the silence of the evening. She unhooked the heart from its string, and pressed it against her chest.

"Now where do I go?" she asked of the darkness again as she turned around and walked back to the temple.

As if in response, another set of string lights lit the path around the temple through the garden. She bit her lip as she followed the path with her eyes, the light still too dim to see where she was going. Her feet met gravel as she stepped off the stone pathway to follow the string lights around the temple. She took small cautious steps, her eyes straining to see through the darkness having just been ruined by the lanterns in the courtyard.

_I can't believe they went to this much trouble for me, _she thought as she contemplated what must have got into the old man and the boy who had left school that afternoon in hunt of an arcade_. _Rei realized that her heart rate increased as she approached the edge of the temple, her mind anticipating the next reveal as her eyes struggled to see in the darkness.

Smiling widely as she turned the corner around the temple, the miko saw that the lights extended halfway down the temple, to where bamboo trees and flower bushes surrounded it. The white string lights were shaped in a circle at the end point, where she assumed she was meant to stand. She followed and dutifully stopped in the center with her breath held. Her peripheral vision caught the glow of additional lights behind her, so she turned and was stunned at the amount of lights that had been strung through the garden.

"Wow," she whispered as she took in the scene. A string of blue lights had been hung between the bench and the light post behind it, all the way up to the bottom branches of the trees above. Green and white lights had been strung through the flower garden, hooked between the temple and the bushes in a zigzag line. She could see clearly now due to the sheer volume of string lights surrounding her, even without the lamp above the bench being turned on.

"Surprised?" an enthusiastic voice asked as a hand touched her shoulder.

Rei started with a gasp. Her heart skipped a beat as she turned to face the boy who had surprised her. However, instead of fully turning, she planted her foot badly and tripped. Ranma caught her with an outstretched hand, grabbing under her armpit. Rather than face-plant, she instead rose back up with his help. He pulled her directly into his chest where he gently grabbed her right shoulder with his other hand to stabilize her.

_Oh my God,_ she thought as she looked up, pressing against his chest in a warm embrace. She felt his breath as he quietly laughed, still holding her close enough to him that as she lifted her head to look into his eyes.

"You okay?" he asked as he released her arm with his right hand. His left lingered another moment as she stared at him, sliding down her short sleeve to the skin of her arm.

"Uh huh," she said, her mind still dumbfounded. She looked away, taking a tiny step back for the sake of her nerves. "What is going on?"

"Told you I'd get you back," he said, pointing to the ground where the circle was. "That's where you got the jump on me that first night. So we're even now."

As her surprise faded, Rei looked at the spot he was pointing at and remembered: that was where she had broken her bokken on his hard skull. She looked between Ranma and the beautiful decorating and couldn't decide what to focus on until he took a step forward to stand right in front of her again.

_I can't even breath__e__ with him so close._

"You got me," she admitted, breathing out a giggle as she nervously played with the ends of her long black hair. _This is a lot more ple__asant than getting surprise attacked; though, if he did the attacking..._

"I did," he said, his smile illuminated by the green lights in the garden. She looked at his lips shining in the light, and remembered the first day when he had taken a sip from her water glass. _Indirect kiss_ had been her thought, yet he had shrugged it off as though it were nothing.

_Do you want to be near me, or do you just have no personal boundaries?_ she asked him in her mind, looking down. She reminisced about that day, her face flushing at the thought of all the amazing things that they shared, despite their short friendship. _If he moved to kiss me right now, I don't think I'd mind._

"So whose idea was this?" she asked, trying to get the image of his lips out of her head.

"Well, I approached gramps with my plan to surprise you, and he came up with the idea to plug in the lights section by section, leading you around. I did all the set up." Ranma said as he placed his hands behind his back.

_They're thick as thieves,_ she smiling at the boy for his ingenuity. "It's really pretty."

"Thanks," Ranma said, putting a hand behind his head. "So you like it, then?"

"Yes, very much," she told him. She felt warm inside as he grinned at her. It sort of started in her cheeks and went down into her chest. She couldn't help but smile back at the boy as his mood lifted hers.

"Good, it's kind of a combination of payback and also a thank you." He then surprised her again, taking another step forward, as if he wanted to stand right against her. Instead, he walked around her, picked up something from the ground, and then turned back to face her. "You dropped this." He held the paper heart out to her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, taking it carefully from him. She tried to see if it had been damaged when she had dropped it, but couldn't tell. Walking over to the bench where the largest concentration of lights were situated, she moved to find a position where she could examine it. The row of lights hung low directly over the bench, so she sat down and placed it directly under them.

Looking at the pink heart in the blue light, she realized it was only dirty and wasn't torn or scratched. As she brushed dirt off the delicate decoration, she saw Ranma sit beside her on the bench. She looked up at him as he scooted over to her, only a few inches away. He leaned over to look at the heart.

"Looks okay," he said, angling his head up to smile at her.

_Oh my God,_ she thought realizing that he was so close, she could feel the heat from his cheeks on her arm. Her mouth opened slightly as she tried to smile at him. He leaned back a moment later.

"Where'd you find it, anyway?" she asked, pressing it against her chest again, as she tried to calm her nerves. She sucked in a deep breath quietly, looking up at him as all of her feeling made it hard to think.

He scratched his head as he looked at her. "I dropped some nails when I was collecting tools to construct the booths. Some of them fell under the shelf unit in there. When I was sweeping them out, that came along with it, so I wiped it off and used it with the rest."

The girl nodded, setting it to the right of her on the gap between her legs and the bench railing. "Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever see it again."

"No prob. It important?" He fidgeted on the bench, unsure of what to do with his hands as he placed them on either side of himself.

"Yeah," she said, intending to explain about her mother, but unable to even speak. Her ears began to ring as she looked down at Ranma's hand.

"Well, I'm glad I found it then," he said warmly, completely oblivious to what she was feeling at that moment.

_He's just going to be indifferent and walk off if I don't do anything,_ she realized. Every time they had gotten close, he'd pulled away, or didn't even seem fazed by it. _Either he doesn't see me that way, or he's __just super dense._

Fighting the butterflies in her stomach, she charged ahead with the crazy plan that Iori had instigated, and placed her left hand on Ranma's right. It felt terribly satisfying as she saw the expression change on his face, as he clenched his jaw in surprise. At first he looked confused, his eyes wandering down to where she had touched him.

"Thank you, Ranma-kun," she said, gently lifting his hand with hers so that she could slide her fingers underneath his palm. _Please don't run away. _She begged him in her own head.

"Uh, you're welcome?" he said, half asking, his awareness of the situation beginning to increase. She saw his jaw unclench, and took an uneven breath in.

Despite the sudden look of caution in his eyes, he didn't run away as she feared he might. As he looked forward, away from her, she felt him ever so slightly squeeze her hand in his.

_Success!_ her brain screamed as she released a breath of air she hadn't even realized she had been holding.

A sudden ruffling in the trees caught both of their attentions, followed by the squawk of a crow, immediately followed by an answer from the other.

_Phobos and Deimos are cheering me on,_ she mused, smiling at the night sky and her good fortune. _I've never held a boy's hand before._

Unfortunately, after that she had no idea what to say or do. _I need to find a first love user manual somewhere._

"There's leaves in your hair," Ranma whispered, pulling her mind back to him.

She looked at him staring at her in the blue light as she reached up, brushing off her head.

"Did I get it?"

He shook his head and scooted the remaining distance, lifting her hand onto his lap as his right thigh brushed against her left. She could do nothing but stare at him in awe as he leaned in.

_OH MY, GOD! IT'S HAPPENING! _She closed her eyes, unsure what to do when receiving a kiss. When she felt his hands in combing through her hair, she opened her eyes and arched her eyebrows in frustration. She looked directly into his eyes, only inches away as he reached around her head, pushing leaves out of her hair. With only inches between them, he still didn't seem to understand that she was making a move on him.

_If he won't initiate, then I will._

Tilting her head, she moved to the right and leaned in the remaining distance, tucking her right arm around his waist and pulling him into a kiss. Every fiber of her body zinged with energy as she felt his lips against hers. They tasted soft and salty as she realized she had pressed her tongue against his top lip.

She felt his body stiffen up as she pulled him back to her, tightening her grip on the small of his back. Although she wanted to pull him closer into an embrace, she couldn't due to their positions sitting side by side. Instead, she had pulled him over her, as the hand he had used to comb her hair for vegetation had shifted over to the bench beside her right leg for support.

His lips did not reciprocate her movement, and doubt began to worm its way into her mind. _Did I jump the gun? Is he not stopping just because he do__esn't want to hurt my feelings?_

She leaned her head back, breaking the kiss to look at his face. He looked absolutely stunned, his eyes wide as he stared back at her.

"I'm sorry," she began to apologize when his eyes focused on her, and she felt him really look at her in the way she had wanted. Something in his eyes had changed entirely as he stared back.

Before either of them could do any more, the lamp post above them buzzed and clicked on, showering them in light brighter than Rei's eyes were used to, causing her to cover them with her hand. When she recovered and looked up, the boy was on the other side of the bench, his face as red as a lobster.

"Gramps made dinner," he said next, turning to look at the dormitory through the trees. "I'll see you there." He moved like lightning, his feet seemingly barely touching the ground as he bounded away.

"Ranma-kun," she whispered, placing a hand against her lips. _At least he didn't run away until after._

They had a very embarrassing and quiet dinner where her grandfather did all of the talking about their plans for the Tanabata festival. Every time she had looked at Ranma, he had done everything in his power to look away or find her grandfather's stories interesting and had provided a quick comment that would catapult the discussion in another longwinded direction. Directly after dinner, he had excused himself to his bedroom, where she had heard his door shut.

_He is so frustrating!_ she thought as she roughly handled the dishes that evening. _Leaving me to __dishes alone right after we kiss._

_Well, he didn't exactly kiss you back,_ another part of her mind answered, playing devil's advocate.

Washing dishes morosely, Rei's head was an understandable mess, conflicted between the joy of having her first kiss with a boy she liked, while conversely feeling miserable for not exactly getting the best response.

_Leave it to that jerk to ruin the mood. But he did make the whole courtyard completely awesome. _She sighed, scrubbing the last of the plates with hot water and placing them on the dish rack to dry.

After brushing her teeth, she wandered into her room sullenly, taking a moment to stare at Ranma's closed door.

"Baka," she said quietly, and then walked into her room and slammed the door loud enough for Ranma to hear. She found her pink pajamas in her dresser and dressed in them slowly, her mind still an hour in the past where the memory of his lips against hers made her cheeks warm. Except in her head, she pictured him pulling her into his lap where they could kiss uninterrupted forever.

Once dressed, she pulled the covers to her bed open, and then sat down. She had only slid one leg in, when she stopped.

The knock at her door surprised her.

_What the heck? Didn't grandfather retire to his room right after Ranma?_

She hopped out of bed and walked barefoot to the door. She slid it open and could only stare. Ranma stood on the other side with his hands behind his back and his head bowed.

"Ranma?" she said, concerned by his sudden appearance. "What is—?"

Before she could finish her sentence, he took a step forward and placed one hand on her left shoulder and the other reached out for her. She froze in shock as he gently brushed her cheek with his hand, and then reached around and placed his hand against the nape of her neck.

"Wha—?" she half verbalized as her mouth opened in confusion.

While their first kiss had been a clumsy attempt by her to make him truly see her as a woman and not just a friend, their second one erased any doubt as he tilted his head and kissed her fully on the lips. She reached both of her hands around his waist in response, pressing her body to his as she tasted his lips again.

Rei could not have told anyone if seconds, minutes or full hours had passed while they kissed as her perception of time stopped in that moment. For once, nothing else mattered. She had everything she wanted in her arms. And when the kiss ended, he didn't run away, but reached around her and embraced her as she held him.

"Don't be sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I think I finally know what it feels like to be home."

End Part One: Home

* * *

_The first part of our story comes to an end after the two children move towards the realization of their true feelings for one another, each in their own way and time. The path so far has been smooth, but now tha__t they stand together, the forces of the past and present will rise up to test their love._

_Thank you for reading this far, and thank you for your patience waiting for the last chapter. Writing two stories at once, while also entering the second most busy t__ime of the year for my profession has been a __challenge. Preparing for E3 sucked away all of my time last week, so I barely managed to write this. I likely won't have a chapter of MLF for another two weeks after this as well, though I'll try my best to writ__e from my hotel room._

_Again, thank you for reading and I'm glad I managed to finish the first part of the story _at _a relatively good pace. I almost got one chapter a week _done _since I started writing it in February. I'm usually really bad, writing less in longe__r time periods, but your feedback has really motivated me to keep going._


	16. Chapter 16

Pale moonlight cloaks the dark silhouette of the beautiful vigilante in the sailor fuku as she flies through the dark night. Her golden hair billows above her shoulders as she falls from the sky down to the street below. Her blue, strappy heels clack to the ground as she silently lands behind a tattooed man in an alley of a convenience store.

Falling into a crouch, the masked woman spares only half a second to get a better look at her prey. Four men have a teenaged couple trapped in an alley. The thug with the tattoos holds a crying, black-haired girl's arms behind her back, even as his three friends shove her young boyfriend from side to side.

Sweeping her long leg out wide, the vigilante kicks out the man's legs. He falls to the ground with a surprised yelp. Before he can alert his friends, she knocks him unconscious with a chop. The girl he had been holding stumbles back over her kidnapper, but the masked woman catches her, placing a white-gloved hand over the girl's mouth.

"Don't scream," the blond woman whispers into the girl's ears. As she releases the girl, the vigilante watches her spin around to look into the eyes of her savior. Surprise turns to recognition in the span of a second, and the girl puts her hands over her mouth, muting a cry of recognition.

"Behind me," she whispers, pushing the girl back behind a dumpster.

The vigilante takes a step into the light. Goosebumps rise on her skin as she poses.

"In the name of Love and Justice, I shall reunite this couple and take righteous revenge upon you if you do not unhand that boy!"

_Now you see me, _the vigilante thinks with a grin.

"What the heck?" the closest one says, stopping mid-shove from knocking about the teen boy in the middle of his group. The boy falls to the ground.

"Is that some Sailor V cosplayer?" another asks the first. "That speech was lame. Sailor V would totally come up with something better."

"Nice. Another girl for the party," the third says, but then stops and looks around. "Hey, where's Saito-kun?"

"Probably having fun with this one's girlfriend," says the second, kicking the boy in the leg. "You picked the wrong guys to talk back to, girly."

"Technically to 'talk back' we'd have to've talked previously," the vigilante says. "But you can consider this the talkback you were looking for as justification for hurting a stranger."

The three look at each other laughing as the teen boy crawls away. They grin as the masked woman stands in the lamplight.

"Think you're smart?" the first smugly asks.

"Think you're tough?" the masked woman replies.

_Begin Part Two: Time_

* * *

**My Love's Flame****  
**A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover  
by Ryan Erik

Chapter Sixteen

The dawn signaled the start of the morning as light broke through the shadowy, overcast sky. The cool morning air slowly warmed, burning through the light fog that had rolled across the city overnight. The heat of the summer sun had already begun to burn the outer layers of clouds that shaded a certain girl's room that Friday morning.

The old, blue alarm clock in the girl's bedroom blinked the time, one minute until seven in the morning. The moment it advanced a minute, the alarm switched on, ringing through the room loudly.

"Mina-chan, turn it off," a small, white cat whined, rolling from his side to his back. After another few moments, he began to come to. "Minako? What's the deal?"

He rolled over the rest of the way, only to see an empty bed.

"Oh boy," he whispered to himself. A rush of adrenalin kicked in and he bounced to his paws. "Uhh, Mina-chan?"

_Notice the facts, Artemis,_ he thought to himself. _Her slippers are by her bed, which is empty, and the window is open. Oh...oh crap._

He recalled the conversation they'd had last night.

"Why can't I go beat up some criminals?" she had asked of her mentor. "I'm _dying_ here. All I do is go to my tutor, who is totally not a hot guy like I was supposed to get."

_I still can't believe she told her parents that she chose the first boy who walked through the door because he was hot, _Artemis thought.

The girl continued her rant, "And I only have another week before I have to go back to practicing for the tour. And you waste it having me wander around _looking_ for someone who you said might not even be born yet."

"I was wrong. Boss is looking for the princess now," Artemis had said confidently. He had received the first message from Boss at the Game Station Crown the day before. "You wouldn't have any powers now if the Silver Crystal wasn't here. And it's only here because she is."

"Blah, blah, blah," she had replied. "Silver Crystal this, princess that."

Artemis had ignored her protests. "We have to lay low for now. The Dark Kingdom has been quiet for too long, and we don't want too much attention until we can locate the princess or at least one of the other Senshi."

"And how does beating up some deserving ruffians in the dead of night mess anything up?"

Artemis had merely rolled his eyes and ordered her to go bed. _I was so exhausted from running away from those stupid stray dogs that chased me__ halfway around the city while she was playing in the arcade._

"Where the heck is she?"

A knock on the door sent a chill up the little cat's spine as the hairs stood up on the back of his neck.

From outside, Artemis heard the girl's father. "Minako, honey? You set your alarm too early. Can you turn it off, please?"

_Kitty litter!_ Artemis thought (_well not really, but let's go with that_), and then enacted a plan that he'd seen work in one of his student's movies.

The door opened and her father stepped in.

"Did you want to wake up now, honey?" he asked.

"Nuh-uh," Artemis said in his best Minako impression.

"Alright, but if you want, I'm making eggs on toast," he said as he walked up, turned off the alarm, and left, none the wiser.

The white cat sighed, exhausted from the sudden morning exertion of dragging her many pillows into a rough Mina-chan shape under the covers. _Good thing I'm already on a bed. _Then a second thought occurred to his tired kitty brain. _Wait, where the heck is that girl?_

Twenty minutes later, he felt a rush of air above him. He popped his eyes open and looked over at the girl who had vaulted in, still in her Sailor V uniform.

"Umm," Artemis said, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "Apparently, someone doesn't know what I meant by keeping our heads down while we locate our allies."

Minako at least had the sense to look sheepish as she shimmered, transforming her clothes back to pajamas and bare feet. "I'm sorry, Arty, but I'm seriously going crazy here."

"I agree," Artemis told her, glaring with his best disappointed look. "Show me your compact."

"Huh?" her tone was defensive as she cradled the magical device in her hands. "No, you can't have it."

"I'm not going to take it," he replied. He walked to the edge of the bed and patted his paw down in a gesture for her to put it there.

"You never lie to me," she said cautiously, as she slowly placed it on the bed.

Artemis bit it. The girl snatched it off the bed, and held it protectively. "What the heck? Why'd you do that?"

"Now, you can't transform without my presence and permission," he informed her, turning his back to her as he walked to the window.

"What?!" she cried out, but then quickly quieted down, realizing she was creating a lot of noise. "What?" Her voice was lower the second time.

"You heard me," Artemis replied evenly, hating to scold her. _It's for her own good, though._

"But what if there's danger, or there's a great photo op?" she asked, her eyes pleading.

He sighed. "I'll stick by you, and if anything happens, just transform as usual. As long as I think it's appropriate, it will work just fine, even if I'm bound and gagged. And if I'm hurt, you can use it to defend me or locate me."

Minako's head drooped as she cast her eyes downward. "But I saved this nice couple." Her voice sounded of defeat.

"I'm sure you did," he replied. "But now Sailor V might reappear in the news again, alerting our enemies of our presence. We have to be careful, Mina-chan."

"So I was supposed to just ignore them and let the bullies hurt them?" Minako put her hands on her hips in protest.

"That's not fair, Mina-chan," Artemis whispered. "You weren't supposed to go patrolling at all. Now that we know the Dark Kingdom is involved, we have to be careful. Danburite was just the first to appear, and he wasn't even strong in his time. If more of their agents come to Japan, there's no telling how long we'd last. Until we find the others, you're the only line of defense."

The sober look in Minako's eyes hurt the Mau, who did not like reprimanding his charge. He could hardly blame her for going stir-crazy. Being Sailor V was a large part of her life, but now the press had begun chasing her for the last six months as she toured with the other finalists of the music contest.

After the girl showered and changed, she reappeared in a cute outfit that would have placed her in an idol magazine. A designer from the record label had replaced her entire closet with such clothes.

"I'm so tired," she whispered as she lifted the cat up onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Artemis. I'll be more careful in the future."

Artemis nuzzled her neck in response as she carried him downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Why are you leaving so early, again?" Minako's father asked in between bites of egg on toast as she walked down the stairs. He sat at the kitchen table with his wife, looking up at her through his spectacles.

"To study longer, obviously," Minako's mother replied in her place. "She said that nice girl from the college offered to tutor her an additional hour in the morning because her classes were cancelled."

Minako nodded with a mouth full of toast, despite it being a total lie. Artemis sat in her lap and nibbled a bit of egg that she fed him.

"Good thinking," the woman continued, nodding her head three times in approval. "You can't rely on this idol thing to last forever. And with your grades, you don't want to be stuck with a dead end job like your father, when you could have been proactive about it." She paused for a moment. "As long as the tutoring doesn't cost extra that is."

Minako's father didn't even respond to the snide remark that his wife made, but Minako blanched. She finished her breakfast in record time afterward, barely remembering her book bag as she prepared to exit the house.

"I have some ideas on a way to search for the princess," Artemis whispered as the girl slipped into her shoes. "Chances are the princess is around your age, so we should start checking girls at all the local middle schools, and then slowly increase our coverage."

"Sounds fine," the girl replied mechanically as she opened the door and walked out, quietly shutting it behind her. They walked a few blocks, when Artemis started feeling something amiss. The girl looked out of it, barely paying attention to where she was walking as she walked along the sidewalk so early in the morning.

_I better get to the bottom of this, _Artemis thought right before he jumped down from her shoulder and stopped in front of her. She looked surprised as she cut her footstep short and nearly stumbled.

"What's wrong?" She looked around her. "We're in public."

"Are you okay? You've been a space case since breakfast."

"I just thought everything would go back to normal after I got back. I couldn't wait to get back into my old school, and see my old friends." She walked around him. "But things didn't. They just got worse. Without having to sing every day, it's like I just realized how much being an idol sucks."

Artemis rolled his eyes as he followed behind her. _Be careful what you wish for._

They walked together in silence for a while, as Artemis gathered his thoughts. He knew Minako was still adjusting to her new surroundings, but he wasn't entirely sure if she would pull out of her funk so easily. She looked so deep in thought, he left her be.

It wasn't until a few blocks after they'd missed their turn, that he realized they were completely off track.

"Hey, Mina-chan!" he yelled up at her when he found they were alone enough to avoid alerting anyone of a talking cat.

"Hmm?" she whispered back, not even slowing a step.

"Where are we going? You missed the turn a while back." He dashed to keep up with her quickened pace. "What's going on, Mina-chan?"

"I cancelled tutoring for today," she told him matter-of-factly. "I have something important to do."

Artemis blinked. _What the_—_?_ He followed after her, realizing the voice was the one she reserved for Sailor V business. _I have to just trust her__ this time. Though, why didn't she tell me beforehand?_

When they arrived at the steps at the bottom of the ascent to the Hikawa Shrine on Cherry Hill, he knew why she had held her tongue. The girl took the stairs two at a time, despite barely being tall enough to clear them. Artemis ran along the edge of the stairs to keep up. She stopped on the top step, and then began to dig around in her purse.

"Wait, aren't we supposed to come here _after_ the miko gets out of class, not before she even leaves?" Artemis asked, a bit winded. _She's really in good shape to do that so quickly._

"I'm going to follow them to their school," she told him with a wink.

_What's gotten into her? _Artemis thought as he watched her pull out her disguise pen. "But you said there wasn't anything to this place on Wednesday. You even took Thursday off to play around. What changed?"

Minako held up the wand and said, "Unassuming Thomas Aquinas School for Girls student."

The girl blurred as the magics in the pen shifted her cute idol outfit into that of the TA School uniform. Her face continued to blur until she it set on an image. To Artemis, she looked the same, but to anyone else she would look like someone completely different.

"How do I look?" she asked and twirled.

"Like you have some questions to answer," Artemis nagged.

"Alright, but let's go hide," she told him as she picked up her book bag and her purse. "I'll explain everything on the way."

_She's getting more and more impossible after all of this idol business,_ he reflected. Artemis didn't know whether to bite her or indulge her. He gritted his teeth as he followed her around the wall around the temple.

Setting her bags down again, she positioned herself at the edge so that she was out of view from anyone leaving the temple, but could still see them from around the corner.

"So?"

"I'm sorry, Arty, but I didn't tell you what happened yesterday,"

Artemis thought about the day before. She had gone to the tutor, and then they had met much later at the arcade. She had been playing for a few hours when he'd arrived. "When you went to the arcade ahead of me to play?"

"Yeah," she whispered, focusing on him for the moment. "I followed that boy from the shrine there."

Blinking in confusion, Artemis considered this new information. _She did tell me afterward to mee__t her there._ "Okay, so you followed him. Did you find anything out?"

"I left out something from the day before, too," the girl told him, her eyes looking at him in apology.

Artemis sighed. "Just tell me everything."

"Promise you won't be mad?" she asked, peeking around the corner at the path out of the shrine.

"No, but I'll wait until you finish telling me before I say anything," Artemis said cautiously.

"Alright," Minako said. "Well, you know how I said the fortune teller told me stuff that was totally right on?" Artemis nodded, and she continued, "I left out the part where I saw the past."

His jaw couldn't have fallen open any further. "You had a second vision? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You said you'd let me finish," she whined, taking a moment to look around the corner.

"Sorry, go ahead," he conceded, though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't help but wonder about her decision to not tell him the instant they had regrouped after their shrine visit. _The vision of the Senshi after she defeated Danb__urite is the only reason we're here. Why hide it, Minako?_

"I had to make sure there was something to it before I told you," the girl told him. She looked visibly nervous. "It was too real. I wasn't sure if it was just a daydream after being near the fire too long. The flames were really intense."

She cleared her throat and peeked around the corner again. "I wonder what time they actually leave for school." The girl then turned to face him again. "So I followed Saotome-san, the boy that you chased around the shrine. I had to know if it was real."

_Wait, the boy?_ Artemis thought in exasperation, trying not to roll his eyes. _This better not just be another crush__. _"Know what was real? What did you see?"

Minako took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking as she delivered the words, "I knew him."

"You met him before?" Artemis asked, confused by her statement.

"No, I just met him the day before yesterday," she said. "But I knew him when I was Princess Venus." She paused, allowing that to sink in as he stared at her disbelieving. "I know, right? I had that same thought. It had to be coincidence, because he showed up right after I saw it. But I couldn't get it out of my head. I saw us together on the overlook on Magellan Castle."

"Whoa," Artemis exclaimed, his mind suddenly blank. "Just, whoa."

"Yeah," she whispered back. "It threw me for a loop, too."

"You're sure it was him?"

"Yeah, I know it." The girl could not have been more resolute. "There are things you just know. And I know that I knew him. I can feel it inside. It's like the feeling I got when I saw the vision of all of the galactic princesses."

"So he was a Venusian soldier, like Danburite?" Artemis asked, his voice a bit low.

The former princess of Venus shook her head, her pretty blue eyes moist. "No, I'm pretty sure he was more than just a soldier. I don't know what he was to me, but it was something big.

"He might be a Dark Kingdom agent like Ace was," the Mau told her, looking up at her with big eyes. "But he could also just be a normal kid. We'll have to be careful around him until we're sure."

"He'd never hurt me," the girl said as she peeked around the corner again. "Oh, they're leaving."

"How do you know that he'd never hurt you?" He saw the look on her face when she turned. "Let me guess, you just know?" He stared at his charge as she shrugged in response.

She began to follow the boy in question and the miko as they walked hand-in-hand.

"Oh, sweet Queen Serenity," Artemis whispered in prayer. "Please let this be a real lead, and not just another boy crazy, hormonal teenager crush thing."

The cat shook his head before following the girl in disguise as she stalked her prey.

* * *

Author's Note: Hi all, thanks for continuing to read. The delay in this chapter is mostly due to the enormous amount of writing I had to do to put out the last piece of Misery Loves Company pt3. It was 90% original writing, instead of rewrites of the old text. That story is kind of a time sink now, so I'm going to slow down on releasing it a bit to re-shift focus back to this project.

So, let's get on with the notes about this chapter. This is sort of a reintroduction chapter. Minako is going to be playing a much larger role in this part of the story. While she had little to do with the natural, daily lives of our heroes, she has a much bigger part to play in the overall love story. So expect more Minako, if not necessarily that much from Sailor V.

The new intro was something of an experiment. It remains in the present tense, as my other intros are written, but it's more of a quick scene. I think I'm just doing that for the introduction to Part 2, but I may change my mind. Let me know if you thought it was cool, stupid, interesting, or whatever.

Artemis gets his first point of view chapter as well. I started writing this from Minako's point of view, but it worked out so much better when you don't know what's going on in her head. Being the first Senshi awakened has a lot of ramifications. She's already a seasoned fighter. Artemis is her safety net, her guardian, and her leash. She's having a hard time after Ace's death, and she can't tell anyone except him about her problems. While it's good that she has him, he's also struggling as he can only do so much as a small cat. It allows him to move around unrestricted, but it also prevents him from truly comforting her, or even preventing her from leaving or doing things her way if she decides to ignore his voice of reason.

And she is a thirteen-year-old girl who is pretty out of her league when it comes to big decisions. She just wants to be normal, yet also be a pop star, and be a vigilante, without any of the fallout from all of those, but right now, all she has is the fallout—no privacy as Minako, can't run around as Sailor V, and has no friends or school to burn her time.

So when I rewrote the chapter in his point of view, we get a sense of his struggle to help her, rather than just kind of an emo-teen's inner, confused thoughts. I don't know how many more Artemis chapters there will be, but I think it's a nice change of pace.

As always, your input is critical. Reviews help me continue writing. I read them all, even if I don't respond to them. Many a chapter has been revised or future plot lines derived from feedback on my stories. The reason I post these things up here in the first place is for feedback. It's like the guide, telling me what works and what doesn't.

When you're this close to a piece of writing, you don't see the cracks and flaws. I have a vision of what it looks like in my head, and I try to translate that into words. When you read it, you translate the words into a vision. I like to get those two as close as possible, but a lot of times the language doesn't allow for it. That's where feedback comes in. The more the better, but any is better than none.

Thanks all! I'm going to try to get back to a once-a-week schedule. I always update my author profile with my current status (what I'm writing, how much I've written, what I plan to write next). So check it out if you ever are wondering about what I'm doing or if I'm still alive. It's dated, so you can see when I last updated it.


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